HSBC: Currently headquartered at London’s Canary Wharf
Photo credit: CC/Mattbuck
HSBC, based in London, is splitting its operations into Eastern and Western markets.
The change were made public six weeks after Georges Elhedery took over as chief executive.
The bank’s former Finance chief has launched a far-reaching transformation that will reduce costs amid falling global interest rates, while sidestepping increasingly fraught relations between China and the West.
There will now be a separate UK and Hong Kong division, with the latter covering Asia and the Middle East as well as a corporate and institutional arm, plus another for wealth banking.
HSBC did not reveal whether these plans would involve job cuts.
Earlier in October, the Financial Times reported that Elhedery intended to reduce the number of posts occupied by senior bankers in a bid to save up to $300 million (€275 million).
European Union transparency date revealed that at least 512 employees in HSBC’s investment banking division earned at least $1 million (€927,800) a year. Of these, 41 were paid over $3 million (€2.8 million).
Elhedery’s role as Finance chief will be taken over by 60-year-old Pam Kau, until now the bank’s Risk and Compliance officer. She will also the first woman to occupy this post at HSBC.
