The East-West split will NOT lead to a complete break-up of HSBC, boss Georges Elhedery insists

The CEO of HSBC has denied that a recently announced East-West split will lead to a complete break-up of the bank.

Georges Elhedery pushed back against speculation that his major overhaul of the lender was a step towards divesting parts of the bank.

The comments came as the lender revealed third-quarter profits rose 10 percent to £6.5 billion, sending shares up 3 percent to a six-year high.

But the results were overshadowed by speculation about the bank’s future.

Elhedery, who was HSBC’s chief financial officer before taking over in September, announced plans last week to split its UK and Hong Kong operations into standalone units.

In addition to the UK and Hong Kong divisions, there will be two other divisions: corporate and institutional banking, international asset management and premier banking.

Companies within these divisions will focus on eastern markets, including the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, or western markets, including Britain, Europe and the Americas.

The announcement reignited speculation that HSBC – based in Britain but making most of its revenues in Hong Kong – could be heading for a complete break-up.

But Elhedery said yesterday: ‘This is neither a precursor, nor an intention, nor a preparation for a split.

‘This is a matter of streamlining. There is no geopolitical reason why we did this.”