HSBC appoints internal candidate as head of global markets

HSBC has appointed internal candidate Georges Elhedery as head of its global markets division.

It comes after the bank’s former global markets chief Thibaut de Roux left the company in September last year.

The bank’s head of European operations Thierry Roland has taken on the role on an interim basis since de Roux’s departure.

Elhedery, currently the chief executive of HSBC’s Middle East and North Africa and Turkey division, will begin the role on 15 March, according to an internal memo.

The former Paribas and Goldman Sachs banker joined HSBC in 2005 and is also a non-executive director at the British Saudi Bank.

The bank’s global markets business reported revenue of $5.2bn (£3.95bn) in the nine months to September last year – a six per cent decrease compared with 2017.

But third quarter revenue rose to $1.74bn from $1.56bn in the second quarter.

Market volatility towards the end of 2018 saw a number of major US banks report a fall in fixed income trading revenue, with Morgan Stanley’s 30 per cent drop leading the way.

Last month US stock markets suffered their worst December since 1931, with the S&P 500 down nine per cent and Dow Jones down 8.7 per cent, capping off the worst year for stocks since the financial crisis in 2008.

JP Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs all reported double-digit year-on-year decline when it came to fixed income trading.

Attention will turn to HSBC when it releases annual results and fourth quarter earnings next month.