This top HSBC investment banker has just launched his own boutique

One of the top debt capital markets bankers at HSBC, who has held senior investment banking roles across London and New York, has become the latest senior financier to leave a big firm to go it alone.

Ben Katz, who was head of DCM for the financial institutions group for the U.S. and co-head of HSBC's financing solutions group for the Americas, left in February this year and has decided to launch his own advisory firm. Katz Capital Advisory LLC was launched earlier this month, and was registered with the NYS Department of State in late July.

Katz spent close to seven years at HSBC in New York, having joined from Deutsche Bank in London where he was a managing director. However, he spent just nine months at Deutsche before jumping to HSBC in August 2010. Before this, he was managing director at Lehman Brothers in London for over 13 years until his departure in December 2009.

This is a big trend for 2017 - senior investment bankers are setting up shop alone, rather than joining another large investment bank. HSBC, which said in January that it was cutting 100 senior investment banking jobs, has seen various senior investment bankers depart for their own ventures.

James Simpson, the former co-head of advisory for EMEA at HSBC, teamed up with Matteo Canonaco, the former head of financial sponsors, sovereign wealth funds and IPC coverage at the bank, to launch a private equity boutique called DuCanon Capital Partners.

Meanwhile, Ben Leonard, co-head of UK FIG banking at HSBC, left earlier this year. He has just launched a fintech firm called META, which looks to bridge the gap between technology firms and financial institutions.

Outside of HSBC, Nick Hassall, who was head of consumer investment banking at UBS, has started venture capital firm Sequor Partners Limited, and Tahir Ali Wahid, who was a managing director and head of European banks and credit solutions coverage sales at Credit Suisse in London until December last year, has launched an advisory boutique called SSP (Strategic Solutions Partnership) Global.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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