HSBC Hastens Search to Find Next Chairman as Tucker’s Exit Nears

(Bloomberg) — With the clock ticking in the hunt for HSBC Holdings Plc’s next chairman, Europe’s largest bank is speeding its efforts to assemble a list of candidates for the role.

Chairman Mark Tucker’s announcement last week that he would leave HSBC in September to take on a non-executive chairman role at AIA Group Ltd. came as a surprise to some of his fellow board members, who thought they’d have more time to find his replacement, according to people familiar with the matter. 

As the board convened in Hong Kong this week to discuss potential successors, it remains an open contest for the job, they said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public information. Senior independent director Ann Godbehere — the director in charge of choosing Tucker’s successor — has yet to produce a final shortlist of names for the role, though high-profile finance figures like Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Richard Gnodde and Kevin Sneader are under consideration, the people said. 

“Tucker’s expedited departure could mean an overly compressed timetable for what is a critical appointment,” said John Cronin, a financials industry research analyst at SeaPoint Insights. “Tucker’s shoes will be difficult to fill.”

Among the qualities needed for any candidate will be an in-depth knowledge of Asia, where HSBC is doubling down as part of Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery’s broader plans for the company. In addition to deep experience of the banking industry, the board is also hoping to find someone with a background in wealth management as HSBC looks to become the world’s largest player in that space outside of the US in the coming years. 

The role will also require someone with diplomatic skills as HSBC is forced to navigate the increasingly unpredictable relationship between the US and China.

Godbehere’s committee has had recruiters from the London-based executive search firm MWM Consulting working for months to help find Tucker’s replacement, the people familiar with the matter said.

While Tucker had previously tipped he would be gone before the end of the year, the news that he would depart on Sept. 30 to return to the Hong Kong-based insurer accelerated the succession planning, the people familiar with matter said. 

“The process to appoint a new chairman is underway,” HSBC said in a statement. “We will provide an update in due course.”

Tucker spent years establishing himself as the unquestioned power inside HSBC. He ultimately appointed four different CEOs during his tenure and was credited for helping to defuse a yearlong row between the bank and investor Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. after the Chinese insurer launched a campaign to force a break up of the bank.

Whoever takes up Tucker’s mantle will take on the chairmanship at a time of dramatic change at HSBC, which has spent the best part of the last year enmeshed in a broad restructuring as Elhedery has slashed jobs, merged divisions, and reshaped the bank’s top executive committee.

With the company short on time, attention has turned to those already on HSBC’s board who could be parachuted into the role immediately. HSBC has a habit of turning temporary office holders into permanent replacements and the board’s 76-year-old interim chair Brendan Nelson is one option the board is considering for the gig, the people familiar with the matter said. 

Directors are also weighing the merits of Gnodde, a vice chairman of Goldman who previously headed their international business, and Sneader, the former global managing partner of McKinsey & Co. who now leads Goldman’s Asia Pacific business outside of Japan. Sky News first reported Sneader was a potential candidate for the role.

Sneader’s experience in Asian markets and being based in Hong Kong are a plus, though the circumstances of his departure from McKinsey — he was voted out of the consulting giant amid an uproar over its role in fueling the opioid crisis in America — could also make his candidacy a challenge. 

Gnodde also has experience in Asia, having run Goldman’s business in the region in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He ultimately played a leading role in expanding the bank’s footprint in the region and securing access to China’s securities markets. 

Former Citigroup Inc. executive James Forese, who has sat on the bank’s board for the past five years, is another possible contender. But his time on the board means he would hit the nine-year term limit that the UK enforces on board directors before the end of the decade. 

Other possible contenders are former HSBC executives. Foremost among them is Stuart Gulliver, who stepped down shortly after Tucker took over as chairman back in late 2017. Clive Bannister, a former HSBC banker who went on to become CEO of Phoenix Group Plc, is another prospective option.

Representatives for MWM Consulting as well as Gnodde, Sneader, Bannister, Gulliver, Forese and Nelson either declined or did not respond to requests for comment.

HSBC has a history of hurried successions, the most dramatic of which was Tucker’s ouster of CEO John Flint in 2019. The bank then came close to appointing Jean-Pierre Mustier, UniCredit SpA’s CEO at the time, only to rescind the offer at the last minute. 

–With assistance from Sridhar Natarajan, Denise Wee and Katherine Griffiths.

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