HSBC cuts staff in city as deals dry up

HSBC (0005) has seen at least four Hong Kong-based bankers leave amid a dearth of deals in the region, according to people familiar with the matter.

The bank cut staff within its commercial banking origination unit for Greater China, the people said.

In a bad year for deals globally, the value of mergers and acquisitions in mainland China and Hong Kong is on course to be the lowest for any year since 2013,

HSBC's commercial bank origination team is focused on driving investment banking opportunities among the lender's mid-cap clients. Despite the slowdown, the bank has been investing further in China, and in October agreed to buy Citigroup's retail wealth management portfolio. It also raised its stake in its Chinese securities venture last year.

In other news, Eric Bai, HSBC's global co-head of the financial institutions group has quit to start his own artificial intelligence venture, one of the people said.

And HSBC group audit committee chair David Nish plans to retire from the board and will not stand for re-election next year. He will be replaced by Brendan Nelson in February.