Trading Places
Inside views on the jobs market
HSBC’s local knowledge: not so good in U.S.?
HSBC, whose advertisements play on how one image can have different meanings in different cultures, appears to have settled on a single view of the U.S. consumer: you’re not worth the risk. The global bank, whose billboards proclaim the importance of local knowledge, said it would shut most of its U.S. consumer lending business with the loss of 6,100 jobs.
“With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken,” HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said of its 2003 acquisition of Household, which was renamed HSBC Finance.
At Trading Places, we like to give people hit by job cuts a place to share information. So if you’re an HSBC employee, tell us what’s happening in your office.
Job Bank – Nov.11
The following financial services industry appointment was announced on November 11, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.
CARLYLE
Private equity firm Carlyle said it named Christopher Dodds, who retired last year as Chief Financial Officer of broker Charles Schwab Corp as Senior Advisor to its Global Financial Services Group. He is based in San Francisco and began on November 1, 2008.
HSBC PRIVATE BANK
Europe’s biggest bank’s Global South Asian Diaspora team (GSAD) appointed Bala Balagopalan, who previously worked for UBS where he headed NRI North Asia. Bala’s mandate would be to cover the South Asian community in the Far East.
Job Bank – Oct 14-15
The following are job changes within the financial industry for Oct. 14 – 15, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.
PIMCO The U.S. investment management firm hired Christopher Getter as senior vice president and emerging markets product manager, based in Newport Beach, California. Getter leaves Fidelity, where he was an emerging market debt research analyst.
CANACCORD CAPITAL The Canadian investment dealer appointed John Rothwell executive vice president and head of private client services, beginning Oct. 30. Rothwell was most recently president of Wellington West Capital.
PENN LIBERTY The U.S. community bank appointed H. David Tamimie as senior vice president of commercial and industrial/commercial banking. He was previously senior vice president in Wachovia’s commercial banking division.
PUTNAM INVESTMENTS The Boston-based global money management firm appointed Keith Thomas to senior vice president, head of European consultant relations. Based in London, Thomas is responsible for directing Putnam’s relationships with investment consultants in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.
BROADPOINT SECURITIES GROUP The investment bank elected Victor Mandel to the company’s board of directors. Mandel is the founder and managing member of Criterion Capital Management, an investment company.
Job Bank – Oct. 10
The following are job changes within the financial industry for Oct. 10, linked where possible to personal and company profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.
CREDIT SUISSE Laurent Charbonnier will join Credit Suisse as a Director on the Metals & Mining team in the EMEA Energy Group in the Investment Banking Department, starting in December, according to an internal memo. Charbonnier will move to Credit Suisse from UBS AG, where he most recently served as executive director and European head of steel, paper, packaging in global industrial group.
VANGUARD The U.S.-based investment management company announced that Peter Volanakis has been elected to its board of directors. He is president and chief executive of Corning Inc.
HSBC HOLDINGS PLC The parent company of the HSBC Group appointed Marvin Kin Tung Cheung as a director, effective Feb. 1, 2009. Before joining HSBC, Cheung was chairman and chief executive officer of KPMG’s operations in China and Hong Kong from 1996 to 2003.
ING ING Investment Management Australia has hired Bradley Gibson to head interest rate strategy within its fixed income team, the company said. Gibson, who starts on Nov. 3, will report to Greg Michel, director of fixed income. He previously worked at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as head of global markets in Singapore and AMP Capital Investors in Sydney and London where he was managing fixed income and currency portfolios.
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK PLC The Asia-focused British bank named Peter Wheeler as head of wholesale banking, West. Wheeler, who will be based in London, joins the Wholesale Banking Management Group, effective immediately. COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT Australia’s largest fund manager said it has hired Annette Mullen as a senior portfolio manager in its fixed interest and credit team. Mullen, who starts on Oct. 27, joins from the New South Wales state Treasury where she managed fixed interest, cash assets and risk. DTZ HOLDINGS The global real estate adviser appointed Paul Idzik as group chief executive officer. Idzik, who will join the company and the board on Nov. 3, was chief operating officer of Barclays plc from 2004 to 2008.
Financial industry job cuts spread to Asia
It’s not just Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch that look to be shedding jobs amid the deepening financial crisis: HSBC announced on Friday that it’s cutting 1,100 jobs in its global banking and markets operation, or about 4 percent of the unit’s total.
“We’re doing it because of market conditions and the economic environment, and our cautious outlook for 2009,” Hong Kong-based spokesman Gareth Hewett told Reuters.
The jobs are in front and back office operations. About half of the positions affected are in the United Kingdom, where HSBC has its headquarters, and 100 of the positions are in Hong Kong, where the bank’s large Asian operations are based.
Globally, HSBC employs about 335,000 people.
“Markets continue to be challenging and difficult but our strategy leaves us well positioned for the next wave of global growth, when it comes,” Hewett said.
I bank with HSBC in NY. The bank stays open till 7.00 PM on Thursdays… which I find is cool. It is also open on Saturdays for half a day. I think the problem with HSBC is more of its Household unit that it acquired a couple of years ago.