HSBC’s reshuffle shows the group is committed to China

HSBC Holdings, which operates the largest franchise among global banks in China, named Mark Yunfeng Wang as president and CEO of its China business as the UK lender reaffirms its commitment to the world’s biggest banking market.

Wang is head of global banking and markets China. He replaces David Liao, who will take up another senior position in the group.

The move is the latest major management reshuffle for HSBC’s China operations after former Greater China head Helen Wong departed in July amid the abrupt exit of group CEO John Flint.

Instead of replacing Wong, the four regional chiefs who worked under her — Liao for mainland China, Diana Cesar for Hong Kong, PH Lau for Macau and Adam Chen for Taiwan — continued to collaborate.

Europe’s biggest lender, created 155 years ago as a merchant bank in Hong Kong, vowed to deploy resources into building the Asian wealth and retail businesses as well as to keep investing in China, betting that a slump in the world’s second-largest economy will be fleeting.

In China, HSBC has ramped up its investment across financial sectors — including commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking and wealth management.

The bank now employs more than 8,000 staff in about 170 outlets across China, according to its website.

Wang joined HSBC in 2005 and has overseen global banking and markets for HSBC in mainland China since June 2016. Liao succeeded Wong as CEO of HSBC China in 2015.

HSBC’s mainland China unit had an adjusted profit of $2.88bn in 2019, an increase of 5.8% from a year earlier, according to its annual report.