LONDON, Dec 2 - HSBC's interim chairman Brendan Nelson has confirmed he is not seeking the role on a permanent basis, the bank's Chief Executive Georges Elhedery told an event in London on Tuesday
HSBC Interim Chair Brendan Nelson Not Seeking Permanent Role
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - HSBC's interim chairman Brendan Nelson is not seeking the role on a permanent basis, the bank's Chief Executive Georges Elhedery told an event in London on Tuesday amid a protracted search for the lender's next chair.
"We've had a chair since the first of October in Brendan Nelson, who's expressed the desire not to do it for six to nine years given the stage of his career," Elhedery said at the FT's global banking summit in London.
HSBC's board will interview prospective candidates for the chair role at a meeting early this week, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Former finance minister George Osborne and former Goldman Sachs executive Kevin Sneader are among a small number of candidates being considered by HSBC, Sky News reported last week.
Osborne and Sneader did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Former Standard Chartered deputy chairman Naguib Kheraj has withdrawn from the process, Sky reported. A spokesperson for Kheraj declined to comment.
Mark Tucker, the bank's first-ever externally recruited chairman, formally stepped down on September 30 to be replaced by interim Chairman Nelson, having announced his exit as long ago as May.
The lender is not guaranteed to make a decision this week and the board could extend the search further, one of the sources familiar with the process said.
“Brendan Nelson became interim Group Chairman on 1st October. The process to appoint a new Group Chairman is underway and we will provide an update in due course," a spokesperson for HSBC said.
Elhedery took over as CEO of Europe's biggest bank in September last year and has since launched a sweeping restructuring of the bank, slashing back its presence in Western markets, cutting out layers of management and doubling down on its strategic pivot to Asian markets.
The cuts included exiting its merger and acquisitions and some equities businesses in Europe and the Americas.
Elhedery said on Tuesday that failing to become a top 5 player in Asia equity capital markets and M&A was "not an option".
(Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Chizu Nomiyama )
