HSBC Hires Citigroup Veteran to Take Over U.S. Business
09 July 2019 - 4:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Margot Patrick
HSBC Holdings PLC signaled a fresh effort to turn around its
lagging U.S. business by hiring Citigroup Inc. veteran Michael
Roberts to succeed Patrick Burke as chief executive of HSBC USA
when he retires later this year.
Mr. Burke, 57 years old, has held the job since 2014 and has
been with HSBC since 1989. Mr. Roberts has worked as Citigroup's
chief lending officer and its global head of corporate banking and
capital management. He has been at Citigroup for 34 years.
The move comes as HSBC tries to turn around its business in the
U.S., which was flagged this year by Chief Executive John Flint as
a key priority. HSBC's business in the U.S. consists of around 1.3
million retail-banking and wealth-management customers, clustered
mainly on the East and West coasts, as well as commercial- and
investment-banking operations.
A giant in Asian banking markets and in Britain, HSBC ranks
number 14 in U.S. banks by assets, according to Federal Reserve
data. HSBC also has a top-five Mexican bank by number of
branches.
The U.S. unit's return on tangible equity was 2.7% last year,
well below a 6% 2020 target. HSBC's aspiration is to make it a top
international bank in the U.S., tapping both foreign companies
doing business there and U.S. companies looking to join with banks
abroad.
Mr. Flint said Mr. Burke has been instrumental in the continuing
U.S. turnaround plan. Before becoming CEO of HSBC USA, Mr. Burke
oversaw a wind-down of the bank's troubled consumer-finance
business, which lost tens of billions of dollars in the financial
crisis from subprime lending. His retirement had been expected
after a long run with the bank, according to people familiar with
the matter.
The hiring of Mr. Roberts marks HSBC's latest effort to recruit
from outside the bank. In 2017, the 154-year-old bank hired its
first outside chairman, Mark Tucker. He in turn appointed an HSBC
lifer, John Flint, to be chief executive in 2018, but has sought to
enliven the bank's bureaucratic image by encouraging more outside
hires.
Mr. Roberts will start at HSBC in October, and Mr. Burke will
stay on for a transition period, an HSBC spokesman said.
Allison Prang contributed to this article.
Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 08, 2019 14:28 ET (18:28 GMT)
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