HSBC is lining up
Stephen Green successor By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:42 PM on 23rd May 2010
HSBC chairman Stephen Green is likely to leave the bank next year, with investors already being sounded out about potential successors.
Former Goldman Sachs executive John Thornton, who joined
HSBC in 2008 as a part-time non-executive director is the bank's preferred man for the job.
Appointing an independent chairman would appease corporate governance mavens.
UK investors have had reservations about Green holding the position of 'executive chairman', working with Michael Geoghegan as chief executive.
Green, 61, is understood to have told the board that he would like to move on, with a view to taking on another senior role elsewhere before reaching retirement age.
He joined
HSBC, Europe's largest bank, in 1982, rising to be chief executive between 2003 and 2006 before moving up to be executive chairman.
Green has been tipped as a potential Bank of England governor to succeed Mervyn King, though some friends believe he is more likely to consider a role with the European Central Bank.
Green, a lay preacher, is also chairman of the British Bankers ' Association.
HSBC, which will hold its annual meeting on Friday, said it was 'silly to speculate' on succession plans.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1280721/HSBC-lining-Stephen-Green-successor.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
