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Ex-HSBC Executive Sues Top Bosses Including Ex-CEO Flint 

Ex-HSBC Executive Sues Top Bosses Including Ex-CEO Flint 

(Bloomberg) --

The ex-global head of currencies and commodities at HSBC Holdings Plc is suing four senior managers including its former chief executive and its top investment banker as part of an alleged unfair dismissal claim.

The whistleblowing case brought by Frederic Boillereau will start next week in London. No further details about the allegations were available.

Ex-HSBC Executive Sues Top Bosses Including Ex-CEO Flint 

Boillereau is accusing John Flint, the bank’s ex-chief executive officer, as well as top investment banker Samir Assaf and his former lieutenant, Thibaut de Roux, according to court records. The bank’s chief legal officer, Stuart Levey, was also named.

The French banker, who left HSBC in 2018 after nearly two decades, declined to comment. An HSBC spokesman declined to comment. The bank spokesman also declined to comment on behalf of Assaf, Levey and Flint, while De Roux didn’t return a message left on voice-mail and on LinkedIn.

In British employment cases, an award is capped at just above 80,000 pounds ($105,000) unless a worker can show discrimination or that they were fired for blowing the whistle on improper actions.

HSBC had a tumultuous 2019 after Chairman Mark Tucker unexpectedly ousted Flint in August. The bank is also set to replace Assaf, who has been head of global banking and markets for almost a decade. Under the Lebanon-born banker’s watch, conduct issues hit the bank, including at the foreign exchange unit where Boillereau worked.

Ex-HSBC Executive Sues Top Bosses Including Ex-CEO Flint 

In January 2018, the bank entered a U.S. deferred-prosecution agreement as part of a $100 million settlement of charges involving front-running foreign-exchange clients. The pact required HSBC to cooperate with any investigation of the bank’s conduct.

Boillereau was appointed global head of FX and commodities in 2009 and a few years later, he was given additional responsibilities as head of global markets corporate services. He reported to de Roux, who ultimately reported to Assaf.

De Roux last year left the bank after a junior female employee complained that she was sexually harassed at a New York restaurant, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stefania Spezzati in London at sspezzati@bloomberg.net;Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net;Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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