New head of global commercial banking at HSBC after top-level reshuffle
HSBC has promoted Barry O’Byrne to head up the lender’s global commercial banking arm as its previous boss takes the reins as interim chief executive of the company.
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O’Byrne is taking on the interim role as part of a top-level reshuffle that involved Noel Quinn, HSBC’s former chief executive of global commercial banking, becoming interim boss of the entire company.
Quinn is replacing John Flint, who stepped down earlier this week as HSBC said it needed a change in leadership to address a “challenging global environment”.
Having previously served as group general manager and chief operating officer for global commercial banking since April 2017, O’Byrne will now be responsible for the overall business that serves roughly 1.5m customers across 53 markets.
He joined HSBC from GE Capital, the financial services division of General Electric where he worked for 19 years across a number of senior leadership roles.
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Flint, who has been chief executive for around a year-and-a-half, is stepping down “by mutual agreement”.
London-headquartered HSBC, which makes more than 80 per cent of its profit in Asia, said it would consider internal and external candidates for the new chief executive.