One of the incoming chairman’s first tasks will be to appoint a new chief executive for the bank as the incumbent Stuart Gulliver has announced he will be stepping down in 2018.
In a break with tradition, Tucker is said to be considering outside candidates for the job. One name that has been touted is António Horta Osório – current chairman of U.K, lender Lloyds – although Osório is set to unveil a three-year strategy for Lloyds next February so appears unlikely to leave his current role.
Other internal contenders include John Flint – who is Gulliver’s protégée – and head of the retail banking and wealth management divisions. Also Samir Assaf, head of investment banking as well as Antonio Simoes, the current head of HSBC Europe.
HSBC shares are up nearly 15 percent year-to-date, boosted by stock buybacks and dividends in the last 12 months and a 5 percent rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of 2017. Buybacks occur when a firm buys their own shares trading on the stock exchange, reducing the portion of shares in the hands of investors. They offer a way to return cash to shareholders – along with dividends – and usually coincide with a company’s stock pushing higher as shares get scarcer.
