Europe's largest bank HSBC Holdings has eliminated more than 20 analyst positions as part of ongoing restructuring efforts under chief executive officer Georges Elhedery.

Steven Major, the bank's global head of fixed income research based in Dubai, was among those who departed in the recent round of job cuts. The majority of redundancies occurred within the bank's European operations.

The personnel changes, first reported on by Bloomberg, coincide with organisational restructuring that will see macro strategy operations combined across different asset classes. Murat Ulgen has been appointed interim head of macro strategy while retaining his role as global head of emerging markets research.

Leadership changes extend beyond the departures, with Eliot Camplisson and Raj Sinha taking on expanded responsibilities as co-heads of equity research on a global basis. Janet Henry remains in position leading the global economics division.

Elhedery has pursued sweeping changes since taking control in September, combining the bank's commercial and investment banking operations while establishing UK and Hong Kong businesses as independent entities. The transformation has also seen HSBC close most merger and acquisition operations alongside equity underwriting activities across the United States, Britain and continental Europe.

The bank confirmed the importance of affected divisions in a statement, with a spokesperson saying: "Our global research, equities sales and trading businesses are core to corporate & institutional banking."

Financial implications of the restructuring programme are substantial, with HSBC expecting to incur $1.8 billion in charges across the next two years. Additional investment will redirect resources from underperforming areas towards divisions with stronger revenue prospects.

Recent organisational changes include the merger of capital markets and corporate advisory units, designed to strengthen the bank's position in the growing private credit sector. Ed Sankey, global head of equity capital markets, is departing as part of these changes.

Senior banker Greg Guyett is also expected to leave in the coming months, with the bank simultaneously reducing vice-chairman positions that previously reported to the former global investment banking head.

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