HSBC’s chief executive has denied that a recently announced East-West split will lead to a full-blown break-up of the bank.
Georges Elhedery pushed back against speculation that his major overhaul of the lender was a step towards spinning off parts of the bank.
The comments came as the lender revealed profits leapt 10 per cent to £6.5billion in the third quarter – pushing shares up 3 per cent to a six-year high.
But the results were overshadowed by speculation over the future of the bank.
Elhedery, who was HSBC finance chief before becoming boss in September, last week announced plans to divide its UK and Hong Kong businesses into standalone units.
Alongside the UK and Hong Kong units, there will be two other divisions: corporate and institutional banking and international wealth and premier banking.
Businesses within those divisions will fall into either eastern markets, including the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, or western markets, including the UK, Europe and the Americas.
The announcement reignited speculation that HSBC – based in the UK but making most of its revenue in Hong Kong – could be heading for a full-blown break up.
But Elhedery yesterday said: ‘This is not either a precursor, or intention, or preparation for any split.
‘This is a matter of streamlining. There is no geopolitical reason why we have done this.’
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