Latest news with #geopoliticalrisk
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
HSBC Pulls Plug on Geopolitical Risk Team--Just as Global Tensions Boil Over
HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE:HSBC) is winding down its geopolitical risk team, a group once tasked with helping top executivesand occasionally clientsnavigate rising global instability. The decision affects fewer than 10 roles across Asia and Europe, but its timing has raised eyebrows. It comes just as tensions between the U.S. and China are again flaring, and President Donald Trump's return to power adds fresh uncertainty to global trade flows. HSBC says existing teams will now absorb the risk advisory function as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and cut costs under CEO Georges Elhedery. This move puts HSBC on a different path from some of its competitors. JPMorgan recently launched a Center for Geopolitics offering insights on the Middle East, Russia-Ukraine, and other hot-button regions. Goldman Sachs and Lazard have also been expanding geopolitical advisory offerings, aiming to give clients a strategic edge in a volatile landscape. Meanwhile, investment banking revenue across the top five U.S. banks remains nearly 40% below 2021 levelsdragged down by deal inertia tied to geopolitical uncertainty. The demand for sharper political intelligence isn't slowing down. In fact, it could be accelerating. HSBC insists it's not backing away from helping clients manage global riskjust doing it differently. We continue to focus on supporting our clients as they navigate a complex and fast-moving international environment, the bank said in a statement. But paired with Wells Fargo's recent move to halt travel to China after a senior banker was blocked from leaving the country, the sector's anxiety is palpable. Whether streamlining pays offor leaves HSBC exposedwill be one of the more interesting banking stories to watch in the months ahead. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
HSBC Pulls Plug on Geopolitical Risk Team--Just as Global Tensions Boil Over
HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE:HSBC) is winding down its geopolitical risk team, a group once tasked with helping top executivesand occasionally clientsnavigate rising global instability. The decision affects fewer than 10 roles across Asia and Europe, but its timing has raised eyebrows. It comes just as tensions between the U.S. and China are again flaring, and President Donald Trump's return to power adds fresh uncertainty to global trade flows. HSBC says existing teams will now absorb the risk advisory function as part of a broader effort to streamline operations and cut costs under CEO Georges Elhedery. This move puts HSBC on a different path from some of its competitors. JPMorgan recently launched a Center for Geopolitics offering insights on the Middle East, Russia-Ukraine, and other hot-button regions. Goldman Sachs and Lazard have also been expanding geopolitical advisory offerings, aiming to give clients a strategic edge in a volatile landscape. Meanwhile, investment banking revenue across the top five U.S. banks remains nearly 40% below 2021 levelsdragged down by deal inertia tied to geopolitical uncertainty. The demand for sharper political intelligence isn't slowing down. In fact, it could be accelerating. HSBC insists it's not backing away from helping clients manage global riskjust doing it differently. We continue to focus on supporting our clients as they navigate a complex and fast-moving international environment, the bank said in a statement. But paired with Wells Fargo's recent move to halt travel to China after a senior banker was blocked from leaving the country, the sector's anxiety is palpable. Whether streamlining pays offor leaves HSBC exposedwill be one of the more interesting banking stories to watch in the months ahead. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
HSBC Disbands Team Focused on Managing Geopolitical Risks
HSBC Holdings Plc is disbanding a team of staffers that were focused on identifying and managing geopolitical risk even as the possibility of such threats has ratcheted up since US President Donald Trump returned to power. The move will impact fewer than 10 roles across Asia, Europe and other regions, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of those staffers have been given the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the lender, they said, asking not to be identified discussing personnel information.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Trump's trade policies drive Hong Kong industry's ‘China plus N' shift
Hong Kong's industrial sector is increasingly adopting a 'China plus N' strategy as a primary defence against unpredictable United States trade policies, with about 70 per cent of its members already operating in, or moving to, Southeast Asia, according to a report. Steve Chuang Tzu-hsiung, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, said that this strategy was a calculated hedge against geopolitical volatility that has been years in the making. 'You don't know which madness [US President Donald] Trump will have tomorrow,' said Chuang. 'It could be 20 per cent in Vietnam or it could change tomorrow, so we have already done our homework.' Chuang clarified that the 70 per cent diversification figure was derived from a survey conducted among the federation's members late last year. The 'China plus N' strategy involves diversifying production and supply chains to multiple locations beyond mainland China, aiming to mitigate geopolitical and economic risks concentrated in a single country. The proactive diversification into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc is a direct response to years of tariff uncertainty.
CNA
5 days ago
- Business
- CNA
ECB supervisors focus on risks from tariffs to cyber attacks, central bank sources say
FRANKFURT/MADRID :European Central Bank supervisors are focusing on issues ranging from tariffs to cyber attacks and a possible dollar shortage as they assess potential risks to the region's banking industry, five senior central bank officials told Reuters. The ECB is looking into these risks amidst a global trade war and conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine. Chief ECB supervisor Claudia Buch said on Tuesday the central bank would test banks' resilience to geopolitical risk next year, telling them to come up with scenarios that had the potential to wipe out large chunks of their capital. In addition to this, ECB supervisors have been incorporating these risks into their regular checks for months, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous as details of the ECB's supervisory work are confidential, said. Banks have been told to watch their exposure to other countries, both via operations abroad and through credit to exporters, supervisors have told Reuters. Cyber attacks are also seen as a risk, particularly in Baltic countries, which have previously been the targets of Russian hackers, the sources said. The ECB has also told banks to prepare for a global dollar drought, for example if the Federal Reserve withdraws its lifelines, as Reuters reported earlier this year Supervisors are not telling banks to cut their exposures and they are not making specific recommendations at this stage, but rather urging banks to tighten their controls and think about contingency plans. The checks are taking place as part of the ECB's annual Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process and banks' own estimate of their liquidity needs, known in regulatory jargon as the Internal Liquidity Adequacy Assessment Process.
