HSBC Holdings surprised its own advisers at HSBC Investment Bank by calling in Goldman Sachs as an adviser at a very late stage on the £6.6bn (€11bn) acquisition of Credit Commercial de France (CCF). One investment banker who had otherwise been kept informed about the negotiations over CCF says: 'I didn't know Goldman Sachs was involved until the announcement.'

Goldman's involvement has led to concern that HSBC Investment Bank's dominant role in executing the deal could be obscured.