HSBC boss says global revamp is not a prelude to bank break up

HSBC's newly appointed chief executive, Georges Elhedery, has dismissed suggestions that his restructuring of the bank's operations between East and West is a precursor to the kind of break up demanded by one of its largest shareholders last year.

Speaking following HSBC's third-quarter results on Tuesday, Elhedery explained that the primary motivation for his overhaul "is to make us a simpler, leaner organisation with faster decision making, stronger empowerment of our frontline people being able to serve better our customers", as reported by City AM.

Elhedery, who succeeded Noel Quinn in September, has already made significant changes at the London-based bank, announcing a major restructuring of its global operations last week. Starting from next year, HSBC will be divided into four new divisions, including a merger of its global commercial and investment banking arms.

The bank's new businesses will also be categorised within separate Eastern and Western groups, reflecting the growing geopolitical tensions between China and the West. "We have simplified our regional governance structure, bringing it from five regions... down to two," Elhedery informed reporters.

"And we expect this to make it easier for our customers to deal with us because we will be more empowered and faster at delivering [for] them."

This geographical division of the group has been perceived as a partial victory for Chinese insurer Ping An, one of HSBC's largest shareholders.

The bank's push to separate its Asian operations did not achieve the anticipated backing from other investors during a shareholder vote last year. Despite this, the recently implemented structure has effectively established a sort of autonomous Asia business without the distinct stock market listing originally so