HSBC Holdings' investment banking arm, HSBC Investment Bank, has teamed up with Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldest and largest privately owned bank in the United States, to gain access to its equity research product.
The move will for the first time give HSBC a presence on Wall Street, where the bank has still to build any kind of investment banking niche.
This follows quickly on the heels of the long-awaited completion of HSBC's US$9.85 billion acquisition of Republic New York Corp.
Clients of Republic and its sister bank, Safra Republic Holdings, are expected to require more of a US-oriented research product.
'Specifically, this approach will ensure that we are able to access US company research to complete our global sector coverage,' HSBC Investment chairman Stephen Green said.
HSBC has long faced criticism for not matching its global commercial banking franchise with its investment banking business, but has always said it wanted to grow its investment banking business organically, rather than through acquisition.