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HSBC’s chief executive has denied that the recently announced East-West split will lead to a complete breakup of the bank.
Georges Elhedery rejected speculation that his major overhaul of the lender was a step towards splitting parts of the bank.
The comments came as the lender revealed profits rose 10 per cent to £6.5 billion in the third quarter, sending the shares up 3 per cent to a six-year high.
Split: HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery (pictured) rejected speculation that his major overhaul of HSBC was a step towards splitting parts of the bank.
But the results were overshadowed by speculation about the bank’s future.
Elhedery, who was HSBC’s finance chief before becoming boss in September, last week announced plans to split its UK and Hong Kong businesses into standalone units.
In addition to the UK and Hong Kong units, there will be two further divisions: corporate and institutional banking and international banking and prime banking.
Companies within those divisions will be located in eastern markets, including the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, or in western markets, including the United Kingdom, Europe and the Americas.
The announcement revived speculation that HSBC – based in the UK but making most of its revenue in Hong Kong – could be headed for a complete breakup.
But Elhedery said yesterday: ‘This is neither a precursor, nor an intention, nor a preparation for any split.
‘This is a matter of rationalization. “There is no geopolitical reason why we did this.”
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