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HSBC renamed its “oriental markets” and “Western markets” activity sections, in the months which followed their creation, after the brand aroused renewed speculations according to which the bank could officially separate along the East-West lines.
The bank now calls for the “Asia and the Middle East” oriental market sector and the Western market business “Europe and Americas”, said two people knowing the issue. It does not change the structure itself.
The “oriental” and “Western” sections were created as part of a large -scale overhaul that the chief executive officer of HSBC, Georges Elhedery, announced in October, a few weeks following the start of the role.
The bank had previously divided its global imprint into five regions, and Elhedery said that the reduction of this for two was a “simplification of the bank”.
But the movement has fueled speculations that the overhaul along the east-west lines laid the basics of a future fraction. The best shareholder of HSBC Ping An, a Chinese insurance group in 2023, put pressure on the bank to turn its Asian operations – a proposal that was shot in a shareholder vote that year.
Elhedery was forced to deny the idea that the bank was heading for the division of its affairs, affirming in October that the redesign was “not a precursor, neither an intention, nor an preparation for any split”.
Some staff members had also raised that the radical “oriental” and “Western” labels are inappropriate, in particular at an era of increasing geopolitical tension, said one of the people.
HSBC refused to comment beyond pointing a statement from Elevye in October, in which he declared that the bank “would rationalize our geographic governance structures, reducing them from five regions to two, further improving our ability to meet the needs of our customers throughout our global network.”
The “Oriental Markets” section covers the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East and is supervised by David Liao and Saféra Rosha. The “Western Markets” section covers the British non-Ringmeded Bank of HSBC, as well as Europe and the Americas.
The simplified geographic division has been introduced in parallel with the creation of four new commercial areas: Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Banks of Business and Institutional and International Wealth and the leading banking.
Last month, HSBC revealed an objective to save $ 300 million in 2025 and reduce $ 1.5 billion in its annual cost base by the end of next year, because it detailed the impact of the overhaul for the first time.
The lender also closes the key parties of his investment banking operations – the work of mergers and acquisitions, and his stock market activities – in the West.
The redesign “pupil and empower” the key areas of the bank such as its British units and Hong Kong and its wealth company, said Elhedery last month, adding that it had “eliminated large parts of our governance structure of the complex matrix”.
