HSBC

Director of football: Stephen Green, Michael Geoghegan
Age: 53
Appointed: 2006
Value added: 15.6% pa (11th)
Chop rating: 4/5

The G-Men are new to their positions but already under pressure. It’s never easy to take over from a long-standing predecessor. Huge strides are needed soon in investment banking to show the outlay has been worthwhile

Head coach: Stuart Gulliver (47, 2003)

Star players: Gulliver now has the chance to run the show on his own. Has a very loyal set of senior players underneath him, but do they have the talent and experience to propel HSBC up the league table?

Rising star: Daniel Palmer, after joining the bank from Morgan Stanley in September 2004, is now head of global capital markets, a rapid rise for a man who was head of equities in New York a little more than a year ago. He comes from an equity and convertible capital markets background

Weakest link: Despite being one of the biggest in the world it continues to punch way below its weight in investment banking, where John Studzinski failed to make his expected impact. But why should HSBC’s senior management care about investment banking when they have such a great retail franchise?

Key transfers 2006:

IN: Gunnar Palm (head of EMEA country coverage for investment banking, from Barclays Capital); Spencer Lake (global head of DCM, from Merrill Lynch); Kevin Adeson (global head of leveraged finance, from Morgan Stanley); Oliver Duff (global head of leveraged finance syndicate, from Morgan Stanley)

OUT: Sir John Bond (chairman); John Studzinski (co-head of global investment banking, to Blackstone); Mark Bucknall (co-head of global investment banking, retired); Marilyn Spearing (global head of sales, to Deutsche Bank)

2006 capital markets performance (▼/▲ 2005)

Overall fees: $949mln (+34.9%) 13th (▲2)
DCM: $646.1mln (+47.9%) 12th (▲1)
ECM: $133.8mln (-12.7%) 13th (▼1)
M&A: $168.7mln (+49.4%) 13th (no move)
FX market share: 5.04% (-1.33%) 7th (▼3)

Rankings 2006:

Return on equity: 13.3% (15th)
Growth of earnings: 45.5% (4th)
Market cap: $210 bln (2nd)

Champions League position 2006: 10th
If HSBC were a Champions League team it would be: Inter Milan. Spent many years and huge amounts trying to win the championship, but talent never gels and results often disappointing