HSBC’s Greater China head Helen Wong quits as bank loses second heavyweight in a week
- Wong’s departure comes close on the heels of group CEO John Flint’s surprise decision to leave the bank after just 18 months
- Wong was responsible for 47,000 staff in the region, which accounted for the largest headcount at the bank
HSBC, the largest lender in Hong Kong, has lost its second senior management within a week.
The bank’s Greater China chief executive Helen Wong Pik-kuen has resigned and will start on leave from Saturday, according to an internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post.
Wong, who joined HSBC in 1992, “has decided to leave HSBC to pursue an external opportunity”, according to the memo sent by her boss, Peter Wong Tung-shun, deputy chairman and chief executive of Asia-Pacific, to all 47,000 staff in the Greater China region which she oversaw.
While Flint will be replaced on an interim basis by global commercial banking head Noel Quinn, there will be no replacement for Wong’s position, and her responsibilities will be shared by the four heads of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China, an HSBC spokeswoman said.
“Our four CEOs across Greater China are in a strong position to continue collaborating to deliver our Greater China growth strategy. Therefore, there will be no replacement,” the spokeswoman added.
They are Diana Cesar in Hong Kong, PH Lau in Macau, David Liao in mainland China and Adam Chen in Taiwan.
The region under Wong was the largest at HSBC Group in terms of staffing, with 21,000 employees in Hong Kong and 26,000 on the mainland, which together represents 20 per cent of its 235,000 global staff, according to figures from the bank.
It is also a challenging region as she needed to help customers in Hong Kong and China deal with the impact of the year-long US and China trade war.
HSBC helps China’s manufacturers expand their production lines in Southeast Asia to dodge trade war tariffs
Despite the headwinds, HSBC’s pre-tax profit from its Hong Kong operations still rose 11 per cent to US$3.15 billion in the second quarter, the bank said on Monday.
Wong had worked briefly at other lenders before joining HSBC and worked in many of its departments.
Peter Wong’s memo noted her contribution in maintaining HSBC’s presence as the largest foreign bank on the mainland. “During her tenure as chief executive of Greater China she was a strong supporter of RMB [yuan] internationalisation and sustainable finance as well as HSBC’s presence in the Pearl River Delta.”
