HSBC share price: Chief executive to stand down in two years

HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) will step down from Europe’s biggest lender in two years, The Sunday Times has reported. The news comes after the group’s chair Douglas Flint recently announced that he was planning to leave the group next year.

HSBC’s share price has fallen into negative territory this morning, having dropped 0.95 percent to 446.20p as of 09:37 BST, and underperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which currently stands 0.39 percent lower at 6,318.75 points. HSBC’s shares have lost about a quarter of their value over the past year and are down more than 16 percent in the year-to-date.
Senior sources told The Sunday Times that HSBC had already started compiling a list of internal candidates to fill the role of Stuart Gulliver, but will also consider external candidates. The news comes after the bank’s chair Douglas Flint said that he was planning to step down, with the board aiming to nominate a successor next year. The group’s new chair is then expected to begin a search for a successor to Gulliver. The high-profile departures at HSBC will come with investors pressing for a change at the group amid a series of scandals, and management’s failure to revive the share price.

The Sunday Times also noted that Flint was expected to be asked about succession planning at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting this week, when HSBC is also likely to face a shareholder revolt over the bank’s executive pay plans. Senior sources, however, told the newspaper that while there could be a protest vote, changes to pension schemes had addressed investors’ biggest concerns.
HSBC’s annual general meeting is scheduled for Friday, to be followed by the bank’s first-quarter results on May 3.
As of 10:11 BST, Monday, 18 April, HSBC Holdings plc share price is 446.68p.