HSBC's Stephen Green to Step Down as Chairman to head trade ..

by pankaj kumar | September 7, 2010 at 02:52 am

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Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC is expected to step down from the bank to take up the role of trade minister in the coalition government.Green's departure, which is likely to be announced today, would end a 28-year career at the bank, the move heralds a major shake-up at the top of British banking

HSBC Holdings PLC Chairman Stephen Green will step down to become U.K. Trade Minister, with no immediate plan to name a permanent successor for him at the bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

The U.K. coalition government will announce later Tuesday that Mr. Green, an ordained priest in the Church of England and a vocal advocate for responsible bank behavior, will fill the post, which has been vacant since May's general election.

HSBC group chairman Stephen Green attended an HSBC interim results press conference in Hong Kong.
Mr. Green has been chairman since 2006 and had previously been chief executive from 2003 to 2006. He joined HSBC in 1982. Possible candidates to replace him as chairman include Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's CEO, and John Thornton, a board member who is the bank's nonexecutive chairman.

The move may increase speculation that HSBC is planning to relocate its headquarters to Hong Kong. Last year, Mr. Geoghegan moved to Hong Kong to conduct his executive role.

The naming of Mr. Green, 61 years old, will come as a relief to the new government, which has made export and trade promotion a major domestic policy goal due to its potential in helping revive Britain's fragile economy and in providing more balanced growth.

The government's ambitious plans for trade have been hampered by its inability to find a prominent business leader to take on the role of Trade Minister.

The last person to hold the post was Mervyn Davies, who declined to continue in the role following the election, which resulted in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties form a coalition government.

The government last month announced that Leon Brittan, former European Union Trade commissioner and minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, had been appointed as a trade adviser.

Mr. Brittan, 70, is charged with helping to shape the new government's trade policy. Mr. Brittan will be in the post for six months and his work will feed into a government strategy paper on trade to be launched in the autumn by Business Secretary Vince Cable