The former chancellor, George Osborne, has emerged as one of the contenders to chair HSBC, one of Britain’s biggest banks. He is among three shortlisted candidates to replace Sir Mark Tucker as chair of HSBC Holdings, Sky News reported. The annual salary is likely to be in the region of £1.5m.
The two other candidates reported to be in the running for one of the world’s biggest banking jobs are Naguib Kheraj, a former deputy chairman of Standard Chartered, and Kevin Sneader, a former McKinsey boss who now works for Goldman Sachs.
Tucker, once a trainee professional footballer with Wolverhampton Wanderers, stood down in September to take up the chair at Asia insurer AIA Group after eight years in the role. Finding a replacement has proved complex (“there’s only one Mark Tucker”, goes the refrain) and headhunter MWM Consulting had already done two sweeps of its original shortlist of candidates within the space of six months.
“Part of it is the board skill, part of it is being an ambassador, managing public policy, geopolitical relationships and regulatory relationships,” says a source familiar with the position.
In recent years, HSBC has sold divisions across Europe and America, while shifting its business further towards China and the Middle East. It exited retail banking in France and the United States. In October, under chief executive Georges Elhedery’s first big strategic move, the bank bought full control of Hong Kong-based lender Hang Seng for $13.6bn.
Until recently it looked as though Kheraj might be the lead contender because of his extensive experience in Asian markets, while Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who had been the chair of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, was previously in contention.
The addition of Osborne was unexpected. In April 2017, he announced he was standing down from parliament and taking up a new role as editor of the Evening Standard. After editing the London newspaper for three years, he was appointed chair of the British Museum in October 2021 and is also president of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
Osborne has worked as a partner at the boutique investment bank Robey Warshaw, which was sold this year to the US investment bank Evercore in a £145m deal.
During his time as chancellor from 2010-16, Osborne spearheaded the drive to forge closer economic links with China, vowing the UK would be its “best partner in the west”. Despite his lack of experience in chairing a listed company, his political experience and international expertise are likely to appeal to the bank’s board.
Alex Potter, an investment director for developed markets equities at Aberdeen Group plc, said: “One thing that is going to be absolutely key is to be as acceptable in Beijing as you are in Washington.
“That is a really tough job. Osborne on paper looks a slightly unusual candidate, with the lack of experience chairing a big listed firm, but in terms of his grasp of geopolitics he could actually be almost uniquely well qualified."
It was reported in 2016 that while he was chancellor, Osborne warned the US that prosecuting HSBC over allegations of money laundering involving drug cartels could cause market instability. The bank paid a settlement of nearly £1.5bn, but did not face criminal charges.
HSBC said it would not comment on “speculation”. A spokesman said: “Brendan Nelson became interim group chairman on 1 October. The process to appoint a new group chairman is under way and we will provide an update in due course.”
Photographs by Dave Benett, Hollie Adams/Getty Images, Bloomberg