HSBC MD in USA left for a promotion at smaller, French bank
HSBC might be cutting its M&A and equity capital markets teams in the Americas, but doesn’t mean that its debt capital markets (DCM) bankers are feeling particularly comfortable, either.
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We reported back in March that Nils Hansen left HSBC after bonus day. He’s resurfaced now at French bank Crédit Agricole, as head of its American syndicates team in New York. Hansen was at HSBC for 13 years before leaving, most recently in its investment grade debt syndicate team. He moved across Sydney, Hong Kong, and London for the bank before settling down in New York.
Moving from HSBC to Crédit Agricole would probably have been a hard sell for Hansen without the promotion. Data from LSEG, formerly Refinitiv, showed that HSBC was the 8th largest issuer of US investment-grade debt in Q1 of 2025; Crédit Agricole was a mere 18th. Additionally, HSBC's market share grew in Q1 of 2025 compared to Q1 of 2024, while Crédit Agricole’s shrunk slightly.
Hansen’s departure from HSBC was a somewhat self-inflicted injury for the bank; his position in DCM was not on Elhedery’s chopping block. In fact, US CEO Lisa McGeough called it a “amazing jewel of the crown type of business.” There were, however, rumblings about the size of bonuses given out to some of those “jewels”.
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