An HSBC bank branch in New York, on Aug. 7, 2019.Brendan McDermid/Reuters
HSBC’s wealth and personal banking chief Nuno Matos is leaving the Asia-focused bank, one of several significant changes in its leadership on the eve of Georges Elhedery starting as chief executive officer
Barry O’Byrne, who heads the lender’s commercial banking business, will replace Mr. Matos, the company said on Thursday. Mr. Matos was among the internal candidates vying to take over as CEO, missing out to chief financial officer Mr. Elhedery last month, sources told Reuters at the time.
While wealth and commercial banking each accounted for about 38 per cent of the bank’s pretax profit in the first half, the wealth business that Mr. O’Byrne takes over is at the heart of HSBC’s strategy to grow fee-based income. HSBC’s other source of revenue, from lending, is set to fall in step with cuts to global interest rates.
With an internal successor, Mr. Elhedery is seeking continuity of strategy rather than a major overhaul of the wealth business.
“I suspect that Georges will want HSBC to look like a swan over the next five years – stability at the top, but lots of activity under the water,” Ben Toms, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told Reuters.
“Unfortunately stability at the top probably means lack of short-term opportunity for the ambitious, high quality management, who are one rung down. This morning’s news is probably a reflection of this construct.”
A spokesperson for HSBC declined comment on whether Mr. Matos would be receiving a payout on his departure.
Mr. Matos is expected to serve in an advisory capacity at Europe’s biggest bank throughout 2024 before leaving the group in 2025. HSBC said it would give an update on Mr. O’Byrne’s successor in due course.
Mr. Matos, based in Hong Kong, is a member of the bank’s 18-strong group executive committee and has served in several of its largest regions, including Europe and Latin America.
“This is the right time for me to embrace new opportunities,” Mr. Matos told staff in an internal memo seen by Reuters, expressing his confidence in his successor Mr. O’Byrne.
John Hinshaw, group chief operating officer, and Elaine Arden, group chief human-resources officer, also members of the executive committee, are also leaving the group, the bank said.
Mr. Elhedery, who takes over the reins from Noel Quinn officially on Monday, will split the responsibilities between two new group executive committee level roles – an elevated and expanded role of group chief information officer (GCIO), and a newly defined group chief operating officer (GCOO), HSBC said.
Stuart Riley has been appointed to the expanded GCIO role, which will assume responsibility for data and innovation. The remaining Group COO duties will become the responsibility of the new GCOO, who will be appointed at a later date.
The London-based bank has been exploring financial incentives and reallocating key projects to retain internal candidates who missed out on the top job, with some shareholders concerned the CEO appointment would trigger more management upheaval, Reuters reported last month before Mr. Elhedery’s appointment.
Besides navigating escalating geopolitics and an unpredictable rate environment, the changes unveiled on Thursday leave Mr. Elhedery with three major roles to fill early in his tenure.
Mr. Elhedery’s successor as CFO, Jonathan Bingham, also takes up his job on Sept. 2 as interim, as is global banking & markets chief operating officer, Suzy White, who has been appointed GCOO, while a formal recruitment process is carried out.
In this interim capacity, Ms. White will attend HSBC’s global executive committee but will not be a member.