HSBC picks insider as next chief executive
Chairman opts not to break with tradition
LONDON: HSBC Holdings Plc yesterday named John Flint as its next chief executive officer after new chairman Mark Tucker opted not to break with tradition and tapped a long-serving insider to run Europe’s largest bank.
Flint, currently head of retail banking and wealth management, HSBC’s largest division, will take over from incumbent Stuart Gulliver, according to a statement.
Flint joined the bank’s management training programme in 1989 and rose through the ranks of its Asian trading floor before returning to Europe 13 years ago to take on senior roles spanning the consumer and investment banking sides of the business.
He’s been treasurer, deputy head of markets, chief of staff and head of strategy.
“John has broad and deep banking experience across regions, businesses and functions,” Tucker said in the statement. “He has a great understanding and regard for HSBC’s heritage, and the passion to build the bank for the next generation.
By picking a 28-year veteran, Tucker, himself an HSBC outsider who replaced Douglas Flint as chairman on Oct 1, has bowed to the lender’s tradition of spurning CEO candidates without a lengthy history at the firm.
Tucker also considered outside candidates, including Peter Hancock, the former boss of American International Group Inc.
HSBC had drawn every one of its previous 21 top executives from its own ranks over its 152year history, according to the bank’s records.
Flint, 49, and other internal candidates had sought to persuade Tucker, the 59-year-old former CEO of Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group Ltd, that the recent stock rally and signs of revived revenue growth justified maintaining continuity with the current management team and its three-year-old strategy.
Flint would have emphasised the breadth of his experience at HSBC, including his ability to handle egos at the investment bank as a former trader, according to people familiar with his thinking.
He also placed the importance of preserving the bank’s culture at the center of his pitch, arguing that another newcomer beside Tucker would represent a level of change and disruption to the firm’s that could derail recent progress, they said.
HSBC is steeped in tradition, stemming from the days when the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp financed trade across the British Empire.
Flint helped oversee a relaunch of the international manager programme, people with knowledge of the programme said. It seasons promising young executives with global postings that often turn into lengthy, civil-service type tenures, such as Flint’s own.
The CEO-elect beat out other internal candidates including Samir Assaf, the head of the investment bank; Antonio Simoes, who runs the bank’s UK and European regional operations; global head of banking Matthew Westerman and Finance Director Iain Mackay.
Flint’s top concerns will likely include improving the bank’s technology, which means more job cuts in the back office; continuing Gulliver’s “pivot to Asia” and $100 billion investment in China’s Pearl River Delta region; and growing the asset management unit.
The economics graduate has given few interviews in his 28 years at HSBC.
His relationship with Tucker will depend on how quickly he can galvanise revenue growth and deliver a double-digit return on equity, considered the bare minimum in profitability by investors.
Sam Laidlaw, the former head of HSBC’s board nomination committee, said earlier this year that the new chairman “doesn’t have patience for a lot of time-wasting.”
By announcing a successor quickly — Tucker only joined the bank and moved to London in September — the chairman has avoided a repeat of the boardroom battle that led to Gulliver succeeding Michael Geoghegan six years ago.
Hong Kong tycoons who were both clients and shareholders in the bank, such as billionaire Li Ka-shing, intervened to ensure an internal successor was picked when news leaked that external candidates were being considered, according to reports at the time.