HSBC Holdings named Georges Elhedery as its new chief financial officer, setting up the bank's former markets boss as a potential front-runner to eventually replace Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn.
Announcing third-quarter results that
Stevenson is departing as HSBC comes to the end of a three-year restructuring that has seen the bank cut tens of thousands of jobs, transfer billions of dollars of capital from west to east, and sell off several major businesses.
As Elhedery steps up, the London-headquartered lender said that Greg Guyett would be appointed head of global banking and markets effective immediately. Guyett had been running the division on an interim basis after Elhedery took a six-month sabbatical earlier this year, before returning last month to work directly for Quinn rather than returning to his old job.
The promotion of Elhedery puts him among the front-runners to succeed Quinn, who has been in charge of HSBC since 2019. Quinn said in a statement that the former markets head was an "exceptional leader."
Long-term succession
Speaking to Bloomberg in a telephone interview, Quinn said the promotion of Elhedery was part of the bank's long-term succession planning. "My ambition is to make sure there are no less than three and ideally four to five potential succession options that the board could consider within HSBC.
"There is no one chosen successor," Quinn said. "It's about broadening the experience of a number of people on the group executive committee and this is one of the opportunities to do that."
The reshuffle of its senior management may overshadow its latest financial results, which were boosted by rising interest rates across the world. The bank said net interest income, a key measure of profitability, hit $8.6 billion, its best third quarter in eight years.
That helped lift adjusted pretax profit by 18% to $6.5 billion, beating analysts' estimates although the bank's loan loss provision was almost a third higher than expectations at $1.1 billion.
Central banks globally, including the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, have raised rates rapidly in the past few months in a bid to contain inflation that's been running at four-decade highs. HSBC is the first major U.K. bank to report how it's fared during a turbulent third quarter.
The bank raised its guidance for net interest income this year to $32 billion and expected to make $36 billion in 2023. It said it remains on track to keep costs stable compared to last year.
HSBC is continuing to fend off calls to consider a breakup from major shareholder Ping An Insurance Group Co. The lender has insisted its pivot toward Asia is a more valuable strategy. Earlier this month, the bank said it was considering the sale of its Canadian business and further disposals are expected, though these are likely to be leavened by acquisitions in other areas considered core to the company's future.
