HSBC names veteran Assaf to head investment bank

HSBC named insider Samir Assaf as its new head of investment banking, a last ripple of a power struggle that saw previous incumbent Stuart Gulliver take the top job at Europe's biggest bank.
Assaf, a Lebanese who speaks French, Spanish, English and Arabic, was named chief executive Global Banking and Markets — which groups together the bank's equity and debt capital markets units — as of January.
A shock boardroom bust-up forced a dramatic change at the top of HSBC in September, when Gulliver was named chief executive-designate, and the bank also named a new chairman and finance director.
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The bank also promoted a number of other insiders on Friday, filling key positions in its investment bank that has rapidly grown and that it expects to generate around one-third of pretax profits across the business cycle.
Jose-Luis Guerrero and Spencer Lake will become co-heads global markets, which houses debt capital markets, asset and structured finance, as well as trading.
HSBC has climbed the ranks of the Thomson Reuters league tables in debt capital markets during the crisis in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, ranking third so far this year, up from eighth in 2007.
It is much weaker in mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets, the data show. It ranks 12th so far this year in equity capital markets in EMEA, and has been around that level for the past few years.
Robin Phillips and Kevin Adeson will be co-heads of global banking, where equity capital markets sit as well as leveraged and acquisition finance.
All men will report into Assaf, who currently heads HSBC's global markets division. The 50-year old started his career at CCF in 1994, which was later bought by HSBC. He also worked as head of Treasury at Total.
HSBC shares were 0.6% weaker at 662.7 pence at 1214 GMT, in line with the European banking index.