HSBC said to be hiring despite Studs loss

With John Studzinski, HSBC's co-head of corporate banking and markets, leaving the bank for private equity house Blackstone, could other staff be eyeing the door too?

Yes and no, say headhunters. Unsurprisingly, those saying 'yes' are retained by HSBC and want to attract people to work for the bank in future. Those saying 'no' are aligned to its rivals, and want to lure HSBC's bankers away.

On the face of it, the exit of John 'Studs' Studzinski, architect of the bank's recent push into investment banking, doesn't look good. But one member of the yes camp says it doesn't augur the meltdown of HSBC's banking operation.

"HSBC are not exiting this business. Period," says the European managing director of a global search firm. "They will remain committed to investment banking, and will continue to hire people," he adds. "HSBC will be building corporate coverage in the UK, particularly in sectors they are strong in, such as industrials and manufacturing companies."

Regardless of Studzinski's exit, the pro-HSBC headhunter argues the bank still has plenty going for it. "HSBC is the second biggest bank in the world. It's one of the only ones based in London, and it has a balanced international portfolio - one third of its money comes from Europe, one third from Asia and one third from the Americas."

He also points to the bank's recent success in winning mandates such as Eon's EURO29bn bid for Endesa, and the merger of Gaz de France with Suez.

And in the no camp...

On the other side of the fence sit headhunters who don't work with HSBC and suggest the departure will be hard to swallow for the bank.

"Most people in the market find it amazing that he [John Studzinski] goes there on a big package, recruits a number of other people on big packages, and 50% of the way through the build up, he leaves," says one. "It either signals that the plan to build up in investment banking is a bit of a disaster, or that there's a strategic review of their commitment to investment banking."

He says mid-level corporate financiers are likely to be first to look for other opportunities: "A lot of HSBC's VPs and mid-level associates will have been attracted by the big story of the bank's build up. This is going to start them wondering, and given market demand they'll find it easy to walk into other jobs elsewhere."

Senior corporate financiers at HSBC are less likely to bail out, he suggests. This is because many are on guaranteed bonus packages and because top-tier banks may not want them back. "People who traded out of tier-one investment banks to go to HSBC will find it extremely hard to trade up again," says the headhunter. "They're most likely to find new jobs in boutiques."

So should HSBC bankers be edging towards the exit? It's all a matter of perception: "You can see this two ways," says one headhunter. "Either Studzinski is leaving because he's laid the fire and now that it's growing there's no more for him to do. Or he's leaving because the fire's going out and he wants some distance before it's totally extinguished."