HSBC (0005) is weighing combining its commercial and investment bank divisions as part of new chief executive Georges Elhedery's push to eliminate overlapping roles across the company and shed expenses.
The effort would bring together HSBC's global banking and markets business, which caters to large, multinational corporations and houses the firm's trading and investment banking divisions, with its commercial banking arm, according to people familiar with the matter.
The combined division would become the bank's largest revenue generator, contributing about US$40 billion a year to HSBC's coffers and leapfrogging its wealth and personal banking business. It would also bring together a more than 90,000-person strong workforce to go out and win business with companies of all sizes.
No final decisions have been made and details of any potential restructuring could still change, the people said. A spokesperson for HSBC declined to comment.
HSBC executives have considered a tie-up of the commercial and global banking divisions in the past, but the proposal was previously met with heavy internal resistance and former HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn was opposed to the idea, according to some of the people familiar with the matter.
Quinn had previously argued that combining the coverage teams of the two divisions would be too disruptive, the people familiar with the matter said. After Quinn's departure earlier this month, the idea is being given a fresh look as the company hunts for ways simplify its business, the people said.
Bloomberg
