When a bunch of anonymous bankers issued a critique of the leadership of HSBC’s investment bank back in 2018, some insiders acknowledged that there was an element of truth in it. The business had indeed suffered from a series of strategic U-turns over the years, particularly in terms of its ambitions for advising on mergers and acquisitions.

Yet insiders insisted that the same criticisms could not be levelled at HSBC’s trading businesses, which, under the leadership of Samir Assaf, had been making strong market share gains, both in fixed income and equities.