Morning, I’m Louise Moon from Bloomberg UK’s breaking news team, bringing you up to speed on today’s top business stories.

While you’ve been sleeping, HSBC reinvented itself. 

The dual-listed bank has appointed its first ever female CFO, Pam Kaur, in a 159-year history, and unveiled a large reorganisation of its structure.

Global commercial and institutional banking will combine, and a new international wealth and premier banking business is to be set up. Geographies will be divided in a more “agile” way, notably with the UK and Hong Kong as standalone units. As part of it all, some top executives are leaving. A lot of change.

Why? Well, new CEO Georges Elhedery is making his mark with an ambitious cost-cutting journey which is needed as central banks cut interest rates. But more broadly, a new strategy could also help stave off any resurgence of previous pressure to separate the business and improve returns.

Those over at Bloomberg Intelligence, however, say the overhaul is “long on promise, yet still short on details”. Shares dipped in early London trading.

What’s your take? Ping me on X, LinkedIn or drop me an email at lmoon13@bloomberg.net. Oh, and do subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted business journalism on the UK, and beyond.

Mulberry says Frasers Group’s offer is “untenable,” partly because its majority shareholder, Chalice, said it wouldn’t sell shares to Mike Ashley’s business. 

Wickes is one of the few retailers that has been positive about a wet summer, saying its third-quarter benefitted from people catching up on outdoor projects delayed by dismal weather.

Miner Petra Diamonds noted “ongoing weakness” in the diamond market, but thinks prices will show some improvement next year. 

And UK borrowing came in higher than expected in the first half, ramping up pressure on Rachel Reeves ahead of the budget. Markets Today’s Sam Unsted gives his take.

• HSBC names its first female CFO as it restructures across businesses, geographies.
• US’ Blinken takes to the Middle East for the 11th time in attempt to engineer a truce.
• European car sales slump for first time in two years as economy stagnates.

Here’s your daily snap analysis from Bloomberg UK’s Markets Today blog:

The UK’s deficit was higher than expected in the first half of the year and borrowing was running ahead of the OBR’s forecast.

It’s another element to be incorporated into the background of what John Stepek neatly described as the “fog of speculation” about the budget due next week, particularly around the need to increase taxes or tweaks to the fiscal rules that Rachel Reeves may make.

And though it doesn’t fundamentally alter the picture, the numbers do underline the pressures on day-to-day government spending — impacted by inflation and a bigger benefits bill — that Reeves’s budget will have to address. How she will do that we shall see next week. Until then, the answers will remain somewhere in the fog.

— Sam Unsted

Check Bloomberg UK’s Markets Today blog for updates all day.

Lloyds kicks off a big banks earnings week with third-quarter earnings. 

Resilience of revenue to interest rate cuts will likely be the main focus across the sector, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, and any net interest margin surprises could drive share price differentiation. For Lloyds, NIM is expected to remain sequentially flat, propped up by hedges against interest-rate movements.

Who shouted “This is not your land. You are not my King” at King Charles on Monday, and where was he?

Photographer: LUKAS COCH/AFP

[Yesterday’s answer: The government is considering mutualising the Post Office (or handing ownership to its staff), according to reports.]

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