Big may be beautiful - but in HSBC's case it also means that you can be outmanouvred by leaner opposition. Michael Rourke, a former member of the rapidly depleting convertibles team at BNP Paribas, is supposed to have his feet firmly under a desk at HSBC, having signed to join the equity capital markets team three weeks ago. Unfortunately, he is nowhere to be found. The week- end before he was due to join, he changed his mind and opted to go to epo.com, the nascent online investment bank which has yet to get a deal under its belt.