HSBC adds US stock analysts to serve wealthy clients

By Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - HSBC expanded its Americas equity research team to 24 people this year, adding to its coverage of U.S. stock markets for wealthy clients, the bank said on Tuesday.

HSBC hired 12 equity analysts for the region, increasing the equity team to 24 people and the group of researchers for all asset classes in the Americas to 40. Globally HSBC has 323 analysts covering all asset classes.

Daragh Maher, HSBC's head of research in the Americas, said the recruits enabled HSBC to broaden its equities coverage in the Americas to more than 250 stocks across 83 sectors.

Wealthy clients, particularly from Asia, are showing increasing interest in U.S. equities given the stronger growth prospects relative to other regions.

HSBC's wealth division had about $1.6 trillion in assets under management in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and David Gregorio)