When John Studzinski, Studs to his friends, left Morgan Stanley after 23 years with the firm, a lot of people thought he would retire to devote time to his many other interests in and around London, such as his sponsorship of the arts, notably opera, and his support of the homeless. There are other interests too – he breeds pedigree dogs and spent the weekend before meeting Euromoney assisting with the delivery of eight male puppies.
Not many bankers can claim to spend their free time sponsoring the premieres of chamber works by new young composers through his own Genesis Opera Project, as he did at the Almeida Theatre in Islington in the summer, receiving honours from the pope for his work with the homeless, or helping out in soup kitchens at the weekend. But that is part of his reason for being. “The purpose of a banker is to reinvest in society and recirculate wealth,” he explains. “All material possessions are only lent to us, after all.” Studzinski is a man with many other worthy causes to pursue; a new job and stiff challenge to build out the investment banking business at HSBC didn’t seem to be one of them.
He is surprised at the way things have turned out too. “Initially I wasn’t planning to go back into financial services at all,” he says. But having chatted a lot to John Bond and Stephen Green about what they were trying to achieve in investment banking and advisory at HSBC and even talking to his client contacts about whether to make the move, he became increasingly positive.
“I have a lot of respect for John Bond and Stephen Green and when I surveyed a number of clients before I came here and said ‘what do you think? Shall I go to HSBC?’ all of them said that HSBC had great branding, a great footprint, great management and was very client oriented. The main negative was that they didn’t ask for much business. They said that if you can go there and extend the business you do without becoming mercenary or greedy or too transactional, you will succeed.”
Eventually he concluded that it was an ness, securitization and structured credit, as well as corporate bonds, credit derivatives and mortgage-backed securities in the US. The north American business is crucial. opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. “I remembered what my father said when I had 24 hours to decide whether to first go to London with Morgan Stanley, which was that only three, four or five really interesting things will happen to you in your life and that you have to take those opportunities, even if they come along when you’re not expecting them.”
What Studzinski likes most about HSBC is that it has the same sort of reputation for client service that Morgan Stanley had. “The only reason I’m here is that it has comparable commitment to client relationships and that’s very important to me.”
But there are clear differences between the two – one a Wall Street securities industry culture, the other a large international bank with a corporate lending and retail side. HSBC is also famed for its conservatism, cost control and treating everyone the same from the bottom to the top. For example, there are only six individual offices in the new headquarters – Studzinski occupies one on the third floor, Gulliver one on the fourth – the rest is open plan.
Economic practicality Has Studzinski noticed any cultural differences beyond the obvious distinctions between the two institutions? “A lot of people were saying to me how can you cope with this cost-conscious culture? Actually the policy here is very practical.” He cites the example of flying economy class with HSBC if the flight is shorter than an hour.
The other issue is that he is coming from outside to the top of an organisation which has a reputation for promoting from within through its international manager programme. However, Studzinski says he likes the international managers, the IMs, and the fact that HSBC has an old established culture. “It was the same at Morgan Stanley – the idea that you join an institution for your career.”
He doesn’t feel that his arrival has put anyone’s nose out of joint, in fact quite the contrary. “I seem to have had a good reception here so far, and people appreciate what I’m doing.” Studzinski and HSBC seem to be getting on fine.
