HSBC has some big gaps for people enthused about its capital markets business
If you work in debt or equity capital markets and you think that HSBC might be the place for you, then we bring good tidings: it probably is. After several exits, HSBC presumably has several openings, many of them senior.
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There have been various departures from HSBC's capital markets business this week. In the latest exit, we understand that Rob Baker, a director in EMEA ECM syndicate has gone to Citi, where he will be reunited with the talented Ed Sankey, his former boss.
In other exits, Bloomberg reports that Karim Tannir, HSBC's head of Middle East banking has left for an undisclosed 'external opportunity.' Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Khaled Darwish, HSBC's head of DCM for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa is going to Bank of America in Dubai. And Nour Safa, Dawlish's number two and the head of DCM for the Middle East and North Africa is going to Goldman Sachs.
HSBC declined to comment on the departures. The implication is that the bank needs to hire, particularly in the Middle East, where it lost head of ECM Chris Laing to EFG Holdin and Ramez Hazalun to PJT in November last year.
In the past 12 months, HSBC has also lost Sean Henderson (co-head of APAC DCM); Jerome Pellet (head of corporate and public sector DCM origination in France), Mohammed Albensaleh (head of Saudi DCM) and James Sadler (a director in Saudi Arabia capital markets and financing).
The latest departures follow bonus payments and may be entirely inevitable. However, they also follow HSBC's surprise decision in January 2025 to focus on debt capital markets and close its ECM and M&A businesses outside the Middle East and Asia, with the result that some insiders say it is less easy to win global deals.
If you feel inclined to work for HSBC's DCM business, the people to know are Adam Bothamley and Asif Sherani, both whom come from DCM syndicate rather than origination and who appear to pay their preferred people very well. If you want to work in the Middle East, you could try Mohammed Fannouch or Samer Deghaili, who co-head the new CMA (capital markets and advisory layer) and who have advisory and ECM backgrounds respectively.
HSBC's DCM bankers are a big deal in the Middle East. Last year, Dealogic says they ranked second in the region. So far this year, they rank third. There are some fine seats vacant, if you're down with the structure.
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