“In the debt capital markets we are already a pretty significant player,” says Palmer. “Perhaps stronger in the European and Asian markets than we are in the US market but nevertheless present there as well. But we want to take the business onto the next level – that’s why we’ve hired Spencer.” Five years ago HSBC was 14th in the all international league tables – it is now in sixth position according to Dealogic.
Lake replaces Roger Thomson – who is going to take over DCM in Europe and will report to Lake. HSBC is building its capital markets business in new areas such as leveraged finance. It recently hired Kevin Adeson from Morgan Stanley to run that business. Adeson was previously co-head of leveraged and acquisition finance, Europe.
“One of the things that Spencer will focus on is the link with Kevin Adeson and his leveraged and acquisition finance team to have a holistic approach to some of these acquisition situations,” says Palmer.
This is just one example of HSBC’s effort to broaden and integrate its businesses. Others include steps to provider strategic solutions for corporate clients and an enhanced structured products and asset and liability product suite.