* Banking and Markets units to be more firmly separated
-memo
* Top executives cut despite wider halt on redundancies
* CEO Quinn presses on with reshuffle ahead of April 28
results
(Adds details on other changes)
By Lawrence White and Sumeet Chatterjee
LONDON/HONG KONG, April 20 (Reuters) - HSBC has cut
a number of top management roles in its investment bank, memos
seen by Reuters showed, as Chief Executive Noel Quinn presses on
with changes despite having put a wider job cut programme on
hold last month.
The bank has cut the regional head roles of the Global
Banking & Markets (GBM) business which houses its investment
banking activities, the memo said.
As a result, Asia-Pacific head of GBM Gordon French will
take a six-month sabbatical from the bank, while the Americas
head Andre Brandao will stay on until the end of the year before
a further announcement is made.
In Europe, GBM head Thierry Roland will step down from that
role to take charge of a unit focused on asset disposals, as
HSBC seeks to shrink its balance sheet.
A spokesman for the bank confirmed the contents of the memo.
The changes see HSBC more firmly separating its investment
banking business, which provides corporate and financial clients
with funding, advice and other products, from the markets
business which houses the bank's trading activities.
The changes show how CEO Quinn is reshuffling his management
teams even though he has announced a temporary halt to plans for
35,000 redundancies.
Two other memos seen by Reuters and sent to bank staff in
recent weeks announced further changes.
GBM chief operating officer Andre Cronje will leave the bank
as part of the reorganisation, a separate memo seen by Reuters
said, and his role will not be replaced.
The bank is combining support functions for the Global
Banking and Commercial Banking businesses into a single "back
office" unit, the memo said.
A third memo spelled out the new regional heads of the
Global Banking business, with former China CEO David Liao taking
over Asia, Philippe Henry running Europe, Middle East and
Africa, and Andre Brandao looking after the Americas pending a
later decision, the memo said.
The moves, which follows the announcement in March of new
global co-heads for GBM at HSBC, comes as HSBC prepares to
report first quarter earnings on April 28 amid mounting concerns
about the impact of the pandemic on banks' businesses.
(Reporting By Lawrence White in London and Sumeet Chatterjee in
Hong Kong. Editing by Jane Merriman)