HSBC is hiring new investment bankers. She wants 200 of them and is particularly interested in whether they specialize in technology, healthcare or climate technology investments, are based in the Middle East or Asia, and happen to know sovereign wealth fund clients. His take on these new hires seems to be that it’s expanding while other banks are cutting, but it could also be that it paid good bonuses (at the top end) or that it seems pretty comfortable letting people work from home.
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HSBC is in the process of reducing its office space by 40% and allowing people to work from home two days a week. Greg Guyett, the London-based head of HSBC’s investment bank, told Financial News that he is “a very strong advocate of flexible working” and would not “commit a few days or a few hours in the office”.
If you work elsewhere, Guyett’s words may sound like sweet and ringing music to your ears. Goldman Sachs people are expected in the office five days a week; JPMorgan’s managing directors (MDs) are expected in the office five days a week and impose their regime on everyone else; even Deutsche Bank is pushing and requiring doctors to be in the office for four days.
Guyett seems to offer hope for something a little weaker. But anyone joining HSBC expecting long weekends working from the countryside or cottage is likely to be disappointed. When you’re a senior banker, the work that can be done outside the office mostly involves visiting clients, says Giyet. Juniors at HSBC are getting a little more relaxed: they can work from home when they need to “manage their lives, make calls, work on a spreadsheet,” says Guyet. Mostly, though, “the bias should be in the office,” which he says should be the “standard” place.
Separately, Goldman Sachs partner and head of prime brokerage sales, Brian Robinson, is in the office all the time, sitting under a homemade neon sign extolling the virtues of teamwork and sleep.
Having previously said things like “a 9-5 mentality won’t lead you to greatness” and “if you get up and wash you’re in for a magical carpet ride,” Johnson has now discovered that greatness and carpets are also aided by rest .
“Early in my career, I was surviving on five to six hours a night,” Johnson told Business Insider. “But now I’m thriving and have strong sustained energy because I get more than seven hours a night during the work week and more than eight on the weekends.”
Water is also a passion: Johnson drinks nine glasses of it a day and works out every day before 6am. He spreads his spirit among his team, whom he encourages to participate in “Exercise Wednesdays,” which is a time for exercise or “selected outside activities.”
Meanwhile…
HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn is looking to hire several wealth managers. “We have a really strong wealth management business in Hong Kong. I want an equally strong wealth management capability in mainland China, Singapore, for ASEAN and in India.” (Bloomberg)
Jamie Dimon warns against the excitement of private loans. He says this could become an “unexpected risk” and that “if investors feel mistreated, they will cry foul and the government will respond by putting a laser focus on business.” (Financial Times)
JPMorgan employs 14,000 people in Florida, 30,000 in Texas and just 29,000 in New York. The average JPMorgan employee in Florida earns a salary of $87,000, more than double the Florida average of $40,000. (Bloomberg)
Commodities trading firm Vitol reported a profit of $13 billion for 2023, more than tripling from 2021 (Bloomberg)
Commodity trading firm Mercuria reported a profit of $2.7 billion last year, down from 2022 but more than double any other year. (Bloomberg)
Credit Suisse’s lawyer says staff responsible for overseeing a banker who took money from a Georgian billionaire did “their best”. The billionaire’s lawyers disagree, comparing it to hearing the sounds of a break-in in a bank vault you’re guarding. “Is it your job to just sit outside and do nothing unless you hear an explosion or the door blasts open?” (Bloomberg)
A student has landed a graduate job at Goldman Sachs after dedicating “up to 10 hours a week to find a job that combines her interests in business and sustainability”. She and her roommates “sat together on their laptops, applying and promoting each other before interviews.” When the offer came, she “screamed out loud.” (WSJ)
If you’re a man and can’t do more than 35 push-ups at age 40, you’re aging badly. The same goes if you’re a woman and can’t do more than 15. (WSJ)
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