If HSBC did decide that acquisition was the correct strategy, the US is the likeliest hunting ground. With more than $6 trillion invested in pension funds and mutual funds it is the biggest market in the world. Duggins and Guidone admit their presence there is insignificant. One US consultant says: "In seven years HSBC has not come across my radar screen once."
Guidone says that the firm now favours a strategic alliance in the US "rather than a flat-out acquisition". The business imperative is elsewhere, according to Guidone. "We certainly need a more robust business in the US and an alliance would give us that. But we can pick up specialist mandates in Europe and Asia and offer that to a US partner. If we were then able to align that experience with a partner who had defined contribution skills we could export those to other parts of the world."
"We have a very detailed profile of the type of US partner that we would like to team up with," says Duggins. "We do not feel compelled to get into the bidding auction just to buy assets.