HSBC has appointed David Sabow as global head of innovation banking, the business set up in 2023 to serve growth companies, mainly in technology and life science sectors, targeting equity-funded, venture-backed start-ups and scale-ups and investors in that area.

Sabow is based in California and was head of HSBC innovation banking in the US. He will now oversee the teams in the US, Israel, Hong Kong and continental Europe, according to a memo to staff, seen by IFR. He has run the US arm since April 2023 and spent 10 years at Silicon Valley Bank, including as head of technology and healthcare for North America. Before that he spent eight years as an investment banker with Canaccord Genuity in San Francisco.

HSBC set up innovation banking after buying SVB's UK subsidiary for a token £1 in March 2023 when the parent bank collapsed. SVB specialised in serving high growth companies, and HSBC said there was an opportunity to tap that space globally.

HSBC innovation banking's global revenue was about US$700m in 2024 and it took on more than 1,200 customers during the year, HSBC said in its annual report. The unit made a pretax profit of US$100m in 2024. It booked a pretax profit of US$1.58bn in 2023, although that included the impact of the acquisition of the business.

HSBC is going through a major restructuring, including the creation of a corporate and institutional banking division.

Sabow reports to Gerry Keefe, head of banking for Europe and Americas. The memo said Sabow will work with Jo Miyake, head of banking for Asia and the Middle East, to expand innovation banking in key markets in Asia, and with Frank Fang, head of commercial banking for Hong Kong, to build it up in Hong Kong.

Innovation banking UK sits separately within a broader UK division. Emily Turner joined HSBC in February from Citigroup as CEO of HSBC innovation banking UK to replace Erin Platts, who joined with the SVB takeover but left in December.

Source: IFR