HSBC Holdings Plc dismissed more than two dozen analysts as Europe’s largest lender embarks on one of the biggest restructurings of a Wall Street research department in recent years.
Most of the cuts were in Europe, though they include Steven Major, HSBC’s Dubai-based global head of fixed income research, according to people familiar with the matter. As part of the changes, the London-based bank is combining macro strategy across asset classes including foreign exchange and fixed income, one of the people said, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Historically, HSBC has had one of the most comprehensive research outfits on Wall Street. Before the recent cuts, the lender said it had more than 330 analysts and associates that produce more than 12,000 reports a year. In equities alone, the lender covered roughly 2,000 companies globally.
But with the moves, HSBC is joining rivals in reducing the number of research employees. Within equities specifically, regulations on how lenders charge for research, a shrinking market for publicly listed companies, and the popularity of index-tracking funds have led Wall Street’s big banks to slash the ranks of their stock analysts by over 30%, Bloomberg previously reported.
At HSBC, Murat Ulgen will now act as interim head of macro strategy in addition to his existing role as global head of emerging markets research, the person said. Meanwhile, Eliot Camplisson and Raj Sinha will expand their roles to become co-heads of equity research globally, and Janet Henry will continue to lead the global economics team, according to the person.
The latest revamp comes as Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery continues to streamline the lender to increase efficiency. Since taking the helm in September, he has combined HSBC’s commercial and investment banking units, while making operations in the UK and Hong Kong standalone businesses.
The CEO has also shuttered most of the bank’s mergers and acquisition and equity underwriting operations in the US, Britain and continental Europe.
“Our global research, equities sales and trading businesses are core to corporate and institutional banking,” a spokesperson for HSBC said in an emailed statement. Major didn’t respond to a request for comment on LinkedIn.
HSBC still expects to have some equity analysts in the UK and continental Europe, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. But going forward, they’ll be covering multinational companies that operate in Asia, the Middle East and other emerging markets, where HSBC continues to operate a full-service investment bank, the person said.
Elhedery’s restructuring of the bank is expected to lead to $1.8 billion in charges over the next two years. Billions more will be spent redeploying resources from lower-returning units to areas where the bank believes it has a better chance of earning higher revenues.
Most recently, HSBC reorganized its capital markets and corporate advisory units into a new business in a move aimed at grabbing a larger share of the booming private credit industry. Ed Sankey, the bank’s global head of equity capital markets, is among those departing, Bloomberg News has reported.
Senior banker Greg Guyett is also poised to leave within months and will join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as first vice president and head of its client services group, Bloomberg has reported. The firm is in the process of trimming some vice-chairman roles that reported to Guyett, the former head of the bank’s global investment banking arm, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of HSBC have gained more than 10% this year in London. Still, as one of the world’s largest trade financiers with a majority of revenue earned from Asia, HSBC is highly exposed to the global tariff war and growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. –BLOOMBERG
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