(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc’s acting chief executive officer, Noel Quinn, wants the job on a permanent basis, putting him among the front-runners to replace departed boss John Flint.
Elevated from running HSBC’s global commercial banking business in early August, when Flint was forced out by chairman Mark Tucker, Quinn has made a play to keep the position he has held for the last two months, according to people familiar with the process who requested anonymity. Quinn told Tucker when he accepted the role that he wanted the role permanently, one of the people said.
Quinn is attempting to make his mark while working closely with another potential candidate for the top job: Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson. The lender’s headcount could fall by as many as 10,000 under plans that would see HSBC offload its French retail business and cut back on replacing departing staff, a person familiar with the matter said earlier.
A spokesman for HSBC declined to comment.
In a video posted on the bank’s internal network last month, Quinn outlined his plans for the business. That has been seen by some insiders as a clear signal of his ambitions. Asked in the video about his approach to his role, he says “I’m certainly not intending, and was not asked, to be, a caretaker CEO.”
Not Interim
“My mandate is to run the business not just as an interim CEO, but as the CEO of the bank,” Quinn said. “It’s important that I have the ability to lead, to take decisions, to change, to shape. I want to do that because I think it’s important for our people that we don’t have a vacuum. It’s important for our investors that we don’t have a vacuum, and that we’re able to make the decisions we need to make.”
Near the top of Quinn’s agenda is getting a handle on costs, and with that in mind, Tucker has empowered him to take big decisions on the bank’s future. The plans to shrink the bank’s workforce were first reported by the Financial Times on Sunday. The bank has not publicly commented on that report.
Flint’s ouster came as a shock to staff at the bank and the wider market. Tucker said the business faced an increasingly complex environment, and that a change was needed to “make the most of the opportunities ahead of us.” People familiar with the matter said the two men clashed on matters including culture and how quickly to expand in China.
A report published by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts speculated that Quinn’s plans would be more radical than those pursued under Flint. “We believe that the combination of revenue headwinds and management change could result in HSBC pursuing a more ambitious restructuring than communicated,” they wrote.
CEO Search
HSBC has said the process of appointing a new CEO could take six months to a year, with the board keen to avoid a replay of the short-lived reign of Flint -- who was dumped by Tucker just 18 months after the new CEO took over from his predecessor, Stuart Gulliver.
Internal and external candidates are being approached by the bank as it undertakes a worldwide search for its next boss. The bank has traditionally appointed its chief executive from within its own ranks. Stevenson may still qualify as an outsider, given he is a relatively recent hire from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
Last month, the Sunday Times reported that Stephen Hester, the former chief executive of RBS, is on a candidate shortlist, as is Stephen Bird, Citigroup Inc.’s head of global consumer banking and the former head of the U.S. bank’s Asian business. The newspaper said Egon Zehnder had been hired to help with the search process.
Whoever wins the race faces some big challenges. Aside from the need for cost cuts, the bank is also facing an increasingly treacherous geopolitical environment amid a U.S.-China trade war and escalating political protests on the doorstep of its Hong Kong stronghold. HSBC recently launched a public-relations offensive aimed at leaders in Beijing, known as the Beijing Visibility Strategy, reflecting worries that its position as the biggest foreign bank in China is at risk.
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR