HSBC's move comes as Wells Fargo & Co. suspends travel arrangements to China. It is reported that a Wells Fargo executive in charge of trade financing was denied leaving the country after entering China recently.
As uncertainty suppresses transaction volumes of mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs), the investment banking revenue of the five major Wall Street banks is still nearly 40% lower than their 2021 peak. The dissolution of HSBC's geopolitical team is also the latest move to implement extensive reforms since HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery took office. Since taking over last year, he has pushed for a comprehensive reform of Europe's largest bank to control costs.
Bloomberg reported that according to people familiar with the matter, the dissolution measures will affect less than 10 positions in Asia, Europe and other regions, and some employees can apply for internal transfers. The responsibility of the geopolitical team is to assist HSBC senior management in identifying the risks involved in the company's business, and some team members sometimes provide advice to customers.
HSBC Holdings Plc has decided to dissolve a team of employees focused on identifying and managing geopolitical risks, although the possibility of geopolitical threats has increased since President Trump returned to power.