Finance

HSBC to exit M&A, capital markets businesses in UK, Europe and U.S.

Published

3 days ago

January 28, 2025

Branch of HSBC bank on 15th January 2024 in London, United Kingdom. HSBC Bank plc is a British multinational banking and financial services organisation. HSBCs international network comprises around 7,500 offices in over 80 countries globally. (photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images

HSBC is preparing to wind down its M&A and equity capital markets businesses in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. amid a broader overhaul of its investment banking operations.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to simplify HSBC and increase leadership in our areas of strength, we are finalising a review of our Investment Banking business,” a spokesperson said Tuesday. “We will retain more focused M&A and equity capital markets capabilities in Asia and the Middle East and will begin to wind-down our M&A and equity capital markets activities in the UK, Europe, and the US, subject to local legal requirements.”

London-listed shares of HSBC were down 0.36% at 10:41 a.m. London time.

The news comes as HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery, who stepped into the leadership role last year, embarks the lender on a broader overhaul targeting cost-cutting efforts.

Back in October, the bank unveiled plans for a new geographic setup and set out to consolidate its operations into four business units, divided between an “Eastern markets” branch — reuniting Asia-Pacific and the Middle East — and a “Western markets” division, comprising the non-ringed-fenced U.K. bank, the continental European business and the Americas.

This breaking news story is being updated.

Finance

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Published

10 hours ago

January 30, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

OpenAI in talks to raise up to $40 billion at $340 billion valuation

Published

12 hours ago

January 30, 2025

Business Finance News

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks next to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

OpenAI is in talks to raise up to $40 billion in a funding round that would lift the artificial intelligence company’s valuation to as high as $340 billion, CNBC has confirmed.

Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank would lead the round, contributing between $15 billion and 25 billion, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be named because the talks are ongoing. SoftBank would surpass Microsoft as OpenAI’s top backer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the talks.

Part of the funding may be used for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle that was introduced by President Donald Trump last week, the sources said. The plan calls for billions of dollars to be invested in U.S. AI infrastructure.

OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion by private investors. In late 2022, the company launched its ChatGPT chatbot and kicked off the boom in generative AI. OpenAI closed its latest $6.6 billion round in October, gearing up to aggressively compete with Elon Musk’s xAI, as well as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Anthropic.

Meanwhile, Chinese startup lab DeepSeek is blowing up in the U.S, presenting fresh competition to OpenAI. DeepSeek saw its app soar to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings this week and roiled U.S. markets on reports that its powerful model was trained at a fraction of the cost of U.S. competitors.

At an event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday hosted by OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman said DeepSeek is “clearly a great model.”

“This is a reminder of the level of competition and the need for democratic Al to win,” he said. He said it also points to the “level of interest in reasoning, the level of interest in open source.”