• Published on 18 December 2017
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HSBC appoints Anthony Parsons as vice chairman of global banking

HSBC has appointed a veteran of the UK investment banking industry in its continued bid to win more mergers and acquisitions work in its home market.

The appointment of Anthony Parsons as vice chairman of global banking was announced in a statement today and comes just weeks after the very public departure of global banking co-head Matthew Westerman.

Parsons joins from the independent advisory firm Greenhill & Co, where he was most recently head of European corporate advisory. The seasoned banker previously led the UK M&A teams at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.

His arrival comes after almost two years of churn at the very top of HSBC's traditional investment banking business — which covers capital markets underwriting and M&A advice — in the UK and continental Europe.

HSBC has been on a drive to bring its investment banking product and client relationship managers closer together and win more business outside of its traditional strengths in lending and the debt capital markets.

In early 2016, it announced the high-profile appointment of Westerman, a former Goldman Sachs partner, to help with this effort. Westerman was named co-head of global banking with Robin Phillips.

In the months after Westerman joined, HSBC saw a number of senior UK investment bankers depart. These included vice-chairman of banking and markets, Spencer Lake, head of corporate finance, John Crompton, and former global head of mergers and acquisitions Florian Fautz.

There were also arrivals. Under Westerman, HSBC hired JPMorgan banker Ray Doody to run leveraged finance globally; Alexis Maskell, formerly of Deutsche Bank, as its top relationship banker for private equity firms; and, most recently, Rob Ritchie from Goldman Sachs as co-head of global banking for the UK alongside Philip Noblet.

But Westerman left HSBC under a cloud in late November, with a number of executives telling Financial News at the time that the sweeping changes made on his watch had upset some senior staff members at the bank.

Despite the upheaval, HSBC's performance in its home market has been improving. According to Dealogic, the bank had earned around $250m in revenues from M&A advice, capital markets underwriting and lending in the UK in 2017 by late November — trailing only Barclays and JPMorgan in the rankings.

Parsons' career in finance spans more than 25 years and has also included roles at the Big Four accountancy firm PwC. At HSBC he will closely with Noblet and Ritchie, according to the statement, but report to Phillips.

Phillips said: "Anthony brings deep knowledge and experience of working with FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients in a career spanning more than 25 years. Anthony’s appointment reflects our ambition to deepen further our strategic relationships across the entire client base."

Greenhill has appointed Pieter-Jan Bouten to replace Parsons. Bouten, who featured on FN's list of rising stars in investment banking in 2014, confirmed his appointment. Earlier this month he was named as a member of the team advising Ladbrokes Coral on a planned £4bn takeover at the hands of GVC.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker from fnlondon.com