(Bloomberg) – HSBC Holdings PLC’s head of share capital markets for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa will leave, the latest room while the lender undergoes a quick review. Christopher Laing is, according to people familiar with the case, during which HSBC has become one of the top rulers for share sales in the emerging Middle Eastern market. He was part of the team that helped arrange Saudi Aramco’s $ 29 billion listing in 2019, the biggest bursary trading on record. Laing’s departure comes when HSBC underwent a broad stir under CEO Georges Elhedery, with the financier cutting jobs and scaling down its investment banking in Europe, the United Kingdom and America. Although the Middle East remains one of the few regions where it is still aimed at pursuing mandates on transactions and lists, the British lender also recently lost his head of ECM in Saudi Arabia to PJT Denovo. Laing did not respond to calls and messages that commented. The bank has moved three managing directors from London to the Middle East for the past four months, and it also intends to move a few junior bankers to the US and London region, according to a person familiar with the case. “We are fully committed to investing in our investment bank franchise in the middle of East and has resettled talent from all over our global network to build on our ECM and M&A practice in the region,” a HSBC spokesman said in a statement, while refusing to comment on Laing. The Middle East has become an active market for share sales, as regional governments follow the privatization programs to develop local capital markets. Companies have raised more than $ 5.3 billion from the initial public offers in the Gulf so far this year, comparable to last year’s levels despite tariff unrest and regional tensions. HSBC has consistently arranged in the top four rules for IPOs in the Gulf since 2021, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2017, Laing joined HSBC from Deutsche Bank, where he was head of the ECM franchise of his emerging markets, according to his LinkedIn profile. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP
It is said that HSBC is losing another top IPO banker for the Middle East
