HSBC Holdings HSBC is trying to claw back ground in Hong Kong investment banking, and the push is now coming from the top. CEO Georges Elhedery and senior executives have been meeting clients directly, while Elhedery has also sent tailored video messages to key Greater China customers as the bank presses executives to re-engage roughly 400 major clients across buyout firms, hedge funds, and other large accounts.
The timing matters. HSBC’s investment bank went through a major restructuring that triggered senior departures and left the lender fighting to regain momentum in one of Asia’s most important financial hubs. The missed lead mandate on A.S. Watson Group’s likely dual London and Hong Kong IPO, which could raise more than $2 billion and is being led by Goldman Sachs GS and UBS Group UBS, shows how competitive the market has become. HSBC may still secure a role, but its exact position remains uncertain, while Morgan Stanley MS and China International Capital Corp. currently lead Hong Kong share-sale rankings and HSBC sits 12th.
Still, HSBC is not standing still. The bank has hired more than a dozen investment bankers for its China business over the past year and is now working on about 40 Hong Kong IPOs, compared with five in all of 2025. Across Asia, HSBC currently has about 70 IPO mandates, including Club Med’s possible $500 million public offering and a potential share sale by Chinese robotics startup Linkerbot, as Hong Kong’s IPO market could top $43 billion in 2026.