HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) has restructured its private banking operation by combining the UK and Switzerland units into a single European entity, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The newspaper said Chris Allen, who runs HSBC's private bank in the UK, Channel Islands, France and Germany will become the head of private banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the head of the Switzerland private bank Franco Morra will leave the group.
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It added that Charles Boulton, the UK market head at the division, will replace Allen as chief executive officer of the UK private bank, and Christophe Guillemot, chief financial officer of the global private bank, will replace Morra on an interim basis.
In 2015, HSBC was hit by allegations claiming that its private bank provided large amounts of traceable cash in foreign currencies to customers and worked with them to hide accounts from tax authorities.
Since then, the firm has been scaling back its private bank operations, either disposing of or shutting down sections of its Swiss and Monaco units, as well as Japan, Panama, Israel and Mexico.
The global banking giant’s new chief executive officer John Flint has said he intends to return the lender to profitable growth and use technology to improve cost efficiency.