HSBC has announced the appointment of its first female finance director in the bank's 159-year history, as its new boss shakes up the business.
Pam Kaur has been with the bank for over a decade and is currently Head of Risk and Compliance.
HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery also revealed plans to restructure the British banking giant in order to “unleash our full potential and drive success into the future”.
Mr. Elhedery is under pressure to cut costs, increase profits and manage tensions between China and the West.
As well as becoming HSBC's chief financial officer, Ms Kaur will also take on the role of executive director of the board, which will be elected at the company's next annual general meeting.
“We had a strong pool of internal and external candidates to choose from and Pam was the exceptional candidate,” Mr. Elhedery said.
As part of the restructuring plan, the bank will create separate business units in the UK and Hong Kong. There will also be two other operations: “corporate and institutional banking” and “international wealth and blue chip banking”.
Activities relating to these operations will relate to either the “Eastern Markets”, which includes the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, or the “Western Markets”, covering the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and the Americas .
“The new structure will result in a simpler, more dynamic and more agile organization as we focus on executing on our strategic priorities, which remain unchanged,” said Mr. Elhedery.
