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HSBC
SBC offers a first-class client service in all respects ,”
“ Hwrites a respondent . While excellence is not evident in the scoring of every service the bank provides , HSBC certainly has some obvious strengths . Its presence in its Asian homeland and reach throughout the region is one (“ India and ASEAN resource is a big plus ”). Foreign exchange is another (“ Excellent client service from the FXPB team ), though not every client is overwhelmed . “ We do not do a high volume of FX trades ,” writes one , before adding the damn-with-faint-praise observation that “ the impossibility of executing trades at a block level severely negatively impacts the amount of FXes we do with HSBC .” A good score in securities lending , where the bank has a strong Asian franchise , is not surprising . Nor are good scores in futures and swaps clearing and cash and synthetic financing . “ Smooth experience in getting trades booked and often favourable clearing charges offered ,” says a client . “ From speaking with the desk , the swap desk at HSBC is always able to provide favourable financing on positions and is always the main reason for us putting on positions with them .” And almost everybody who responded thinks HSBC is doing a great job in client service . “ Excellent client service coverage from HSBC ,” writes a respondent . This was a strength last year too , but one client thinks it is getting better all the time . “ Client service is definitely one of the strongest points of HSBC ,” he writes . “ Quarterly meetings , good tracking of issues and metrics , great follow-ups . Communication with a client is key , and they have constantly been improving on this , which is always nice to see .” The excellent score for sales and marketing is better gauge of what is happening at HSBC , because it implies the bank is getting its combination of price and risk right , but it is based on fewer responses . What is based on a full turn-out is the middling score for operations . While operations at HSBC have their fans – “ good support from their ops team ” says one client , while a second has noticed “ very well-prepared ops ” – the score is middling . This is counter-intuitive at a major international bank with a global custody business and a large sub-custody network , though reliance on specialist centres may have something to do with it . “ The team is responsive ,” explains a client . “ Unfortunately , sometimes they provide an answer to the specific question rather than trying to find out a solution to the problem . Too often they need to deal with problems caused by HSBC infrastructure .” He thinks this infrastructural inertia is inhibiting the development of the prime brokerage product . “ Unfortunately , HSBC infrastructure seems to be extremely hard to change ,” he writes . “ For some of the issues we have , the change that would need to happen at HSBC is often presented to us as a major piece of work .” The less impressive score for asset safety , on the other hand , is not counter-intuitive . The detailed scores demonstrate that clients have no concern about HSBC losing their assets , or refusing to make them whole if it does , but they do wonder how close a track it is able to keep on encumbered assets . Where there is unequivocal room for improvement is in technology . “ Technology is not the strongest point for HSBC ,” says a respondent . “ The lack of a central portal is a massive downside and reports often feel limited and not very malleable . The service levels provided are excellent and it is great to see things improving . However , some areas are still a lot behind other PBs , especially in terms of infrastructure and technology .”
44 %
By size
15 %
41 %
Weighted average scores
PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Large Medium Small
Weighted average scores by service area Service area
29 %
By location
14 %
57 %
2016 2017 2018 5.36 5.75 5.73
Weighted average score
Capital introductions N / A N / A Client service 6.17 2.6 % Consulting N / A N / A Operations 5.86 -1.8 %
Americas Europe and Middle East Asia
+/ - the global average
Technology 5.01 -10.5 % Product development 5.30 -2.9 % Risk management 5.59 0.3 % Asset safety 5.57 -3.0 % Sales and marketing 6.47 5.5 % Trading and execution 5.66 -3.3 % Delta 1 , swaps and financing 5.79 1.3 % Stock borrowing and lending 6.12 2.6 % Foreign exchange prime brokerage 5.84 3.0 % Fixed income 4.73 -18.0 % OTC clearing 6.52 11.5 % Listed derivatives 6.11 3.7 % Total 5.73 -1.1 %
84 Global Custodian The Hedge Fund Annual 2018