HSBC defends investment bank after critical memo

Exterior
views of HSBC headquarters and Standard Chartered Bank (R) are
seen at the financial Central district in Hong Kong November 3,
2015.

REUTERS/Bobby
Yip

• HSBC defends its investment banking practice after
  senior staff wrote a scathing memo to the bank’s management by
  senior staff over recent weeks.
• 
  In a statement given to Financial News, HSBC said that its
  global banking has a “clear strategy that is
  working.” 
• Dissent within the bank is centered around a
  whistleblower’s memo railing against ‘rewards for persistent
  failure’ that was sent on August 25.
•  It is said to have attacked HSBC’s leadership for
  what it says is a failure “to create a successful
  strategy.”

HSBC fired back at internal criticism over its investment banking
practices following a staff-penned memo to management late last
month.

In a statement given to Financial News, HSBC said that its
global banking teams have a “clear strategy that is
working.” 

HSBC did not immediately respond to Business Insider request for
comment about the issue.

Dissent within the bank is centred around a memo, reportedly
titled “Global Banking & Markets: Rewards for
Persistent Failure” and sent on August 25. It is said to have
attacked HSBC’s leadership for what it says is a failure “to
create a successful strategy.”

“The division’s leadership has, year-on-year, utterly failed to
create a successful strategy,” the memo reportedly said,
according to Financial News and the Financial Times. “We are
entirely fed up and demoralized and have no confidence at all in
the existing leadership.” 

“Unlike any other bank, there is no proper and effective route to
provide upward feedback: hence this memo, which is whistleblowing
on incompetence,” the memo reportedly said.

HSBC’s defense of its global-banking practice comes soon
after the Financial Times reported that senior executives
have described the memo as “trash” and “lacking substance” to
back up its criticism.

In interviews with more than a dozen current and former HSBC
executives, the FT said some investors had contacted them about
the issue, while others claimed a management shake-up might
follow.