HSBC Adds Firepower for U.K. Investment Banking

HSBC announced two promotions Wednesday as part of its continuing efforts to bulk up its U.K. banking business.

Natalie Blyth, the current co-head of the U.K. business, will become global head of large corporates, overseeing the lending relationships for HSBC’s biggest clients. At the same time, Philip Noblet, who in March joined HSBC from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will be promoted to running the U.K. investment banking business, along with current co-head Alan Thomas. In that role, the team focuses on providing all investment banking products – from debt and equity capital markets to mergers and acquisitions – for U.K. companies, financial institutions and private equity firms.

The announcements were made in an internal memo to staff, which was seen by MoneyBeat.

Ms. Blyth’s position is currently held by Joel Van Dusen, who is leaving the bank, according to a person familiar with the matter.

For the last year, HSBC has been working to create a formidable U.K. investment banking business. The bank had previously focused its efforts on expanding in Asia Pacific. But that came at the expense of its home market.

While better known as a lending bank, the British-based firm ranked 7 in U.K. investment banking revenue so far this year, giving it a little over 4% market share, according to Dealogic.

To remedy that, the bank last April appointed Ms. Blyth, at the time the global head of consumer banking, and Mr. Thomas, former deputy head of global banking in Asia Pacific, to lead the new U.K. banking venture.

With Ms. Blyth’s U.K. advisory background, the bank hopes to show its lending clients the growing strength of its financial advisory business, said one person familiar with the matter.

It has since hired several big names, including Mr. Noblet, who was one of BAML’s leading M&A bankers, with a strong focus on U.K. industrials. It also hired former Barclays banker Andrew Owens to join its M&A ranks and former Credit Suisse and Macquarie banker Antony Isaacs as its head of U.K. equity capital markets and corporate broking

-- Philip Georgiadis contributed to this post.