People Moves
HSBC Names New Japan CEO Amidst Business Overhaul
HSBC has named a new chief executive for its Japanese business, a region in which the London-listed bank is radically cutting its footprint as part of a global restructuring.
HSBC has named a new chief executive for its Japanese
business,
a region in which the London-listed bank is radically cutting its
footprint as
part of a global restructuring.
Kaber McLean has been promoted to chief executive officer
for
Japan, from his previous role as HSBC’s head of global banking
and markets in
Asia-Pacific, according to an emailed statement from the bank.
McLean replaces Stuart
Milne, who has been with the bank in the Japan for five years
and will remain at HSBC.
McLean was also appointed chairman of the
Japanese brokerage and asset management units.
Last month HSBC agreed to sell its Japanese private banking
unit
to Zurich-based lender Credit
Suisse, four years after initiating the business.
The division manages assets worth $2.7 billion and the sale is
expected to
complete in the second quarter of this year, although neither
bank has disclosed a price tag. HSBC may also sell HSBC
Premier, the operation that targets affluent individuals in
Japan, according to media reports.
HSBC, which makes most of its
money in Asia, said earlier this week that it is preparing to
offload its retail
operations in Thailand, where it has agreed a sale with Bank of
Ayudhya, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, as part of CEO
Stuart Gulliver’s plans to cut costs in anticipation of ongoing
turmoil in the economic climate.
Gulliver said last year that he wants to sharpen the bank's focus in Asia by exiting regions where it lacks scale. HSBC reported a 36 per cent fall in profits during the third quarter of last year, dragged down by its investment bank which was impacted by the Eurozone debt crisis and volatile markets.
McLean joined HSBC in London in 1996, and has worked at its
global banking and markets businesses in London, New York and
Hong Kong, according
to the statement. He came to Hong Kong last year for his current
role.
HSBC has had a presence in Japan since 1866, but only started
serving high end customers in Tokyo in 2008. It has a relatively
small presence, with around six branches in Tokyo, Osaka and
Nagoya. Japan is the country with the
highest population of high net worth individuals in the whole of
Asia,
according to intelligence firm Wealth-X.