HSBC Taps Irene Dorner for Top Management Board

HSBC (HBC) has promoted the head of its American arm to the company's top executive team.

The $2.7 trillion-asset company said Tuesday it has named Irene Dorner, chief executive of HSBC USA, a group managing director and member of the U.K.-based bank's group management board.

Dorner, who topped American Banker's list of the "25 Most Powerful Women in Banking" in 2012, is expected to be one of two women who serve on the 12-member panel when she joins in February. She will continue to head the U.S. unit.

"Irene has served HSBC with distinction over the past 30 years," Stuart Gulliver, the company's chief executive, said in a press release. "The board's decision reflects this commitment and, moreover, recognizes the important and complex job she has been doing in running our U.S. operations."

Dorner took over HSBC USA in 2010 after serving for three years as CEO of operations in Malaysia.

Though the 58-year-old, who has held a succession of senior posts since joining HSBC as a lawyer in 1982, says she demands a lot from the people who work for her, she strives to lead by example. "If I am committed, then you'll get 200%, total energy; it will happen," Dorner told American Banker last fall. "This is what I do."