The Q1 report also says that HSBC "invested" in its private banking business in Asia. This is likely a reference to hiring. As we reported in March, HSBC plans to recruit 500 private banking and wealth management staff in Asia by 2022, including an undisclosed but significant number of Singapore and Hong Kong-based private bankers. Some of this recruitment is temporarily on hold after HSBC imposed a hiring freeze on 26 March, however a source with knowledge of HSBC's private bank told us recently that recruitment processes begun before that date are continuing. The bank said last month that people with prior written offers would still join, and that it would hire for a "small number of frontline and business-critical roles" (private bankers may potentially fall into this category). Meanwhile, in global banking and markets (GBM), Asian profit climbed 10% to $1.2bn.