The Hong Kong/UK-listed bank has announced that its current chairman is stepping down at the end of the year.

HSBC, which reported its first-quarter results last week, has announced that Sir Mark Tucker (picture), its chairman, informed the bank’s board that he intends to retire from the post at the end of 2025. 

The UK/Hong Kong-listed banking group has started to look for a successor. The search is being led by Ann Godbehere, senior independent non-executive director, it said in a statement late last week.

Sir Mark joined HSBC’s board in 2017, taking up the chairmanship on 1 October. 

During Sir Mark’s tenure, HSBC has witnessed significant changes, such as the political shifts in Hong Kong in 2020, the pandemic, and geopolitical instability around the world. On the positive side, it has been a time of continued advances in technology, and a continued advance in the ranks of the affluent middle class in Asia. HSBC has restructured: It sold its businesses in Argentina and Canada, for example. In April 2024, HSBC agreed to sell its Argentinian banking, asset management, and insurance operations to Grupo Financiero Galicia for $550 million. It has also wrapped up the sale of its Canadian business to Royal Bank of Canada.

In October last year, HSBC said it was restructuring its business lines into four business units, including a new entity called international wealth and premier banking. It was split into the following business segments: Hong Kong; UK; corporate and institutional banking; and the international wealth and premier banking arms. In July last year, the bank  appointed one of its own senior figures, Georges Elhedery (pictured below), as group chief executive to take over from Noel Quinn.

Georges Elhedery

“It has been a great honour and privilege to lead HSBC as chair. I am deeply grateful for the trust and support I have received from the board, management, and colleagues and am very proud of all that we have accomplished together. With the strong foundations laid over the last eight plus years, I am very confident that under Georges’ leadership, HSBC will go from strength to strength,” Sir Mark said.

Last year, HSBC appointed Annie Lim as Global Private Banking (GPB) desk head for Singapore, starting in December 2024. Last December, HSBC named one of its senior figures, John Shipman, as interim chief executive of the Swiss private bank and country head in the Alpine state.