Robin Phillips, HSBC's co-head of global banking, is to step down less than five months after a group claiming to be made up of senior members of the company's investment bank launched a blistering attack on the City veteran.

The departure comes after Financial News revealed in September that the group of unnamed bankers had sent a letter to HSBC's chairman Mark Tucker and chief executive John Flint that expressed sharp disapproval of Phillips, accusing him of presiding over a period of “persistent failure” at the UK bank.