HSBC USA Chief Dorner to Retire; Patrick Burke to Take Over

Irene Dorner, American Banker's Most Powerful Woman in Banking in 2012, will retire this year as head of HSBC Holdings'(HSBC) U.S. banking unit.

Dorner, 59,  will step down on Nov. 1 as president and chief executive of HSBC USA. She will be succeeded by Patrick Burke, 52, the chairman and CEO of HSBC Finance Corp. and a general manager with HSBC's U.K. parent company.

Meanwhile, Rhydian Cox, 53, was named head of regulatory remediation in the U.S., a newly created role.

Dorner received American Banker's award in 2012 and was named the No. 2 Most Powerful Woman in Banking last year, in large measure because of her deft handling of the London bank's money laundering issues in the U.S. In 2012, HSBC was assessed $1.92 billion in penalties for violating U.S. anti-money-laundering regulations, the largest deferred prosecution agreement ever for a financial institution.

Under Dorner's leadership, HSBC enacted a risk review of all U.S. customers, resulting in HSBC's exit from several hundred correspondent banking relationships. Along the way, she has tried to mend HSBC's reputation with regulators and received praise for her efforts from the U.S. Justice Department.

She was also lauded for her handling of HSBC's grilling before a congressional panel in July 2012. As members of a Senate panel lambasted HSBC for its lack of oversight, Dorner explained how she was trying to change the culture at HSBC.

"I can tell you unequivocally since I have been here that I have fired people for not complying, that I have clawed back … and I have reduced compensation," Dorner told the panel.

The Oxford-trained Dorner was named president and CEO of HSBC USA in November 2011. She joined the London company in 1982 as an in-house lawyer and held numerous leadership positions throughout the organization.

On June 30, Burke will assume the titles of president and chief executive-designate of HSBC US; and he will also become an executive director of HSBC North America Holdings, HSBC USA Inc. and the $180 billion-asset HSBC Bank USA NA.

Burke has been head of HSBC Finance since 2010; that is the unit in charge of winding down the troubled legacy assets of HBSC's Household consumer finance business. He added the title of group managing director with the parent company in 2011.

Cox, the new head of U.S. regulatory matters, will report to Burke and to Marc Moses, the parent company's chief risk officer. Cox had been chief risk officer in the Asia-Pacific region.

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