(HSBC Holdings Plc Deutsche Bank AG)To what extent can differences in Essay

(HSBC Holdings Plc Deutsche Bank AG)To what extent can differences in the business strategy or pattern of corporate governance of these two companies be expla - Essay Example This includes, managing funds, investments, and stakeholders. The businesses operate within a complex system of interests and influences. Bebchuk et al. (1) contend that corporate governance arrangements can substantially affect shareholders. While identifying the stakeholders, the corporate are supposed to look beyond the formal structure of the organization. Therefore it is required to have a look at informal and indirect relationships as well. With growing influence of media and politics managing the corporate houses have become more challenging task. Political parties require campaign funds, while corporate houses want sympathizers in the government. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the corporate governance principles of two of the leading banks viz. HSBC and Deutsche Bank AG. Both these banks have been serving its customers over a wide range of segments and markets in different countries, while competing with each other in some of the markets. Corporate governance structures and styles vary in the environment they operate. This variation may result in the form of different countries, types of market forces, prevailing economic conditions, types of customers/ consumers available, internal as well as external environment of the country, competitors available in the market etc. Gillan (3) draws a Corporate Governance and the Balance Sheet Model of the Firm as shown below; The left hand side of the diagram depicts the elements of internal governance system, while the right hand side shows the elements of external governance with pulls and pressures from debt-holders and other stakeholders. A composite system of corporate governance takes into account both the internal as well as external factors. Therefore comparing HSBC and Deutsche bank we find that both these banks have been offering a range of services, including asset management; cash management; securities issuance and trading; and conventional banking. Both the banks serve individual as well as corporate clients. But there is lot of difference in the way these banks have formulated strategies for serving the corporate needs. At the Deutsche the corporate banking & securities division is divided into five business units namely; Global markets; Global Equities, Global Corporate Finance, Loan exposure management group (LEMG) and Global banking division. On the other hand the corporate, investment banking and markets division in HSBC is organized into three units, namely; Global markets; Corporate and investment banking; and Group investment businesses. This shows that while Deutsche prefers to place specialist workforce for special needs, HSBC prefers to have wants its managers to specialize in more than one field. One ap parent reason for this difference in strategies is because of the area of operation of both these banks. While HSBC has to its footprints over a large area in around 80 countries in five regions, Deutsche bank operates in around 75 countries, but Deutsche bank primarily operates in Germany, the rest of Europe, North America and certain parts of Asia-Pacific. Therefore the area of operation is comparatively larger for HSBC. Asia-Pacific, where HSBC has more presence is quite complex region as there are wide variations in market requirements, consumer behavior, forms of government etc. Liberalization regime that has come along with