FACTBOX-HSBC's top ranks house likely successor to CEO Quinn

HSBC is preparing to welcome its third CEO in less than eight years after veteran banker Noel Quinn, 62, retires from running Europe's biggest bank. While HSBC said on Tuesday it will consider both internal and external candidates, the Asia-focused lender has typically looked internally to fill its leadership positions.

HSBC is preparing to welcome its third CEO in less than eight years after veteran banker Noel Quinn, 62, retires from running Europe's biggest bank.

While HSBC said on Tuesday it will consider both internal and external candidates, the Asia-focused lender has typically looked internally to fill its leadership positions. Lengthy service was seen a prerequisite to understanding HSBC's myriad stakeholders, investors, and crucial regulatory relationships straddling east and west.

HSBC has several contenders to succeed Quinn, analysts, investors and industry sources told Reuters. The bank's chairman Mark Tucker is now set to get one more CEO settled in the role before exiting HSBC himself by 2027, in line with UK corporate governance conventions.

None of the names mentioned are women. Just 34% of all senior leaders in HSBC were women in 2023, the bank's global diversity data shows. Tucker declined to comment on individual candidates to succeed Quinn when asked by reporters on a call. Here are biographies of HSBC's key leaders, based on company documents, statements and Reuters reports.

COLIN BELL, CEO, HSBC BANK PLC AND CEO, EUROPE Bell, a former British Army officer, is Chief Executive of HSBC Bank plc and HSBC Europe. He joined in 2016 from UBS, where he was Head of Compliance and Operational Risk Control.

Bell, 56, was HSBC's Group Chief Compliance Officer until February 2021. While in the Army, Bell held a variety of command and staff roles and took operational tours of Iraq and Northern Ireland. He also worked in Britain's Ministry of Defence and for NATO.

Bell is credited with a sweeping revamp of HSBC's European business, historically seen as one of its biggest underperformers. Under his watch, revenues and returns have jumped following substantial disposals and cost cuts. GEORGES ELHEDERY, GROUP CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Lebanon-born Elhedery was named the surprise successor to Ewen Stevenson as CFO in October 2022, just weeks after returning from a sabbatical. The appointment raised questions at the time about a possible change in strategic direction at the bank as Elhedery, 50, was known more for his vision than accounting expertise.

Since 2020 he had been co-head of the Global Banking and Markets business, the division which houses HSBC's trading and investment banking advisory businesses. He began his career in banking as a rates trader before joining HSBC in 2005 and steadily rising through the ranks.

In 2016, he took over the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region managing 10,000 staff across all business lines and overseeing risk, financial crime, compliance and capital management. GREG GUYETT, CEO OF GLOBAL BANKING & MARKETS

A graduate of Ivy League college Princeton, Guyett joined HSBC in October 2018 from East West Bancorp, Inc., a lender focused on the U.S. and China. In March 2020, he was appointed alongside Elhedery as co-CEO of HSBC's Global Banking & Markets unit, which houses the bank's trading and investment banking advisory businesses.

Guyett, 60, took sole charge of the unit while Elhedery took a sabbatical. Guyett began his career at JP Morgan in 1985 and went on to hold a number of leadership positions including Head of Investment Banking for Asia Pacific as well as Co-Head of Banking for the region.

Between 2013 and 2014, Guyett relocated to Shanghai to serve as JP Morgan's Chief Executive for Greater China, taking charge of its operations in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. NUNO MATOS, CEO, WEALTH AND PERSONAL BANKING

Hong-Kong-based Matos, who joined HSBC in 2015 from Santander, was appointed as CEO of Wealth and Personal Banking in February 2021. He is perhaps the most global of the likely successors, with career stints in the U.S, UK, Spain, France, Peru, Brazil, Mexico as well as Asia. Matos, 56, is now tasked with expanding HSBC's wealth business in China and is on track to nearly double the unit's headcount by next year.

Amid signs of a peak in the recent run of central bank policy rate hikes worldwide which have turbocharged its income, HSBC is pushing to boost fee-based revenue from businesses like wealth which are less reliant on interest rates. The first quarter results showed early promise, with revenue up 12% compared with the same period a year ago.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)