HSBC's new investment banking bosses are raising some eyebrows internally

As we reported last week, HSBC has finally unveiled the structure for its new 'capital markets and advisory business.'  Some of its senior bankers claim to be underwhelmed. 

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The presentation of the 'capital markets and advisory business' follows a four-month wait to learn the shape of HSBC's investment bank after the surprise announcement in January that the M&A and equity capital markets businesses were being wound down outside of Asia and the Middle East. The expectation was that "IB 3.0" would be a departure from the legacy business. Instead, say insiders, the same people still seem to be in charge. 

"There was a webinar on Friday where we were told of the new arrangements," says one MD. "People were distinctly underwhelmed. Why did it take four months to achieve this? What were they doing all this time?"

The new capital markets and advisory business is being run by Adam Bagshaw, a former sponsors banker from Deutsche Bank who joined HSBC in 2020.  Bloomberg says Bagshaw has a mandate to grow Deutsche's private credit business. He's working with Ian Dorrington, who also joined from Deutsche Bank in 2023. Dorrington is HSBC's head of leveraged and acquisition finance and will reportedly be spearheading the private credit push.

However, just as there have been mutterings about HSBC being run by Citi corporate bankers and their friends, there are complaints too about a smaller clique from Deutsche Bank.  Legacy HSBC bankers point out that the investment bank was formerly run by a combination of Adam Bagshaw and Matthew Ginsberg, a former Barclays banker and Fitch chairman who joined in 2021. Given that HSBC now plans to focus on DCM globally, they suggest that Ginsberg, who "had a huge amount of respect internally" and was hired from Barclays in 2021, would have seemed the obvious person to run the investment bank. Instead, he retired in March and Bagshaw stayed. "It's very curious who's been let go," says an MD.

In the absence of Ginsberg, insiders say HSBC's new DCM-oriented investment bank might also have been headed by Adam Bothamley, an HSBC lifer who's been running DCM for six years. Apparently not. 

Instead, there's grumbling that many of the people running the new-look business are M&A and ECM bankers by trade. Chito Jeyarajah, the head of investment banking for Asia, for example, has a background in ECM. Ex-Morgan Stanley banker Kamal Jabre is staying to head M&A globally. Ex-Deutsche Bank head of EMEA ECM, Ed Sankey is HSBC's new global head of ECM. Martin Zoll is the head of ECM, and co-head of Strategic Equity Finance. Victoria Lindsell is staying as global head of structured finance, reporting to Bagshaw. And Jan Laubjerg, an industrials banker, is staying to run HSBC's sector teams. 

While various M&A and ECM bankers seem to be more prominent in the new structure, HSBC's DCM bankers complain they have been overlooked. "People like Ed are very good, but if you're exiting the business, why keep him?," says one.

At the same time, it's understood that the DCM team is leaking top talent. Connor McCaffrey, a talented vice president on the FIG DCM syndicate team is understood to have resigned last week. 

HSBC declined to comment. 

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