HSBC's latest cuts: "The most senior people stayed"
As we've reported here, here, here and here in the past week, HSBC has been cutting its equity researchers. As the dust settles on the exercise, insiders at the bank say a curious observation is being made: while around 26 researchers of various seniorities have gone, senior research management seems to have stayed.
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HSBC didn't respond to a request to comment on the issue. Bloomberg confirmed yesterday that the bank has cut "more than two dozen analysts." Although the bank will continue to have analysts in Europe, Bloomberg said they will in future be covering, "multinational companies that operate in Asia, the Middle East and other emerging markets."
This might explain why HSBC seems to have felt that it needed to retain its most senior figures. Sources at the bank say that David May, the global head of investment research, Kim Shapiro, the head of equity research for Europe, and Xavier Gunner, the COO and chief revenue officer for global research, have all stayed. It's not clear what their current roles are.
The endurance of research management has raised eyebrows among the leavers. "The highest paid people have stayed and they've cut a lot of lower cost associate directors and associates," said one.
Managing directors didn't escape the axe, though. Robin Down, Kailesh Mistry, Edward Stanford amd Matthew Lloyd are thought to be at risk in London. Steven Major is being let go as head of fixed income research in Dubai. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Eliot Camplisson and Raj Sinha are now running research globally for HSBC.
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