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HSBC’s senior independent director is to step down from its board after overseeing the prolonged search to replace Sir Mark Tucker as chair of Europe’s largest lender.
Ann Godbehere, who joined the board in September 2023, will step down as a director at next year’s annual meeting for “personal and lifestyle reasons”, the bank’s new chair, Brendan Nelson, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It has been my privilege to serve on the HSBC Board and a pleasure to work with so many talented colleagues. I wish the board and management every success as it executes on its strategy,” Godbehere said.
Godbehere was chief financial officer at Swiss Re between 2003 and 2007 and interim finance chief at British bank Northern Rock after its nationalisation following the 2008 financial crisis.
The search for HSBC’s chair formally kicked off after Tucker announced in June he was rejoining insurer AIA. The news surprised some board members who had expected he would stay until the end of his tenure in 2026.
The search, overseen by Godbehere and run by London-based headhunters MWM Consulting, was in part challenging because of the role’s requirements: knowledge of Asia — where the bank makes most of its profits — and financial services experience.
HSBC ultimately appointed Nelson, a former KPMG partner who had been serving as interim chair since the start of October.
His selection came just hours after the bank’s chief executive, Georges Elhedery, told a Financial Times conference that Nelson did not want to serve a full term as chair, raising concerns over whether HSBC had picked the right person for the role and how long the 76-year-old will occupy it.
“It’s like continuing as interim chair without the ‘interim’ in the title to stop the questions from shareholders, regulators and media,” a board adviser previously told the FT. “I suspect that the questions will start again within months.”
Nelson beat external candidates including Goldman Sachs’ Asia boss Kevin Sneader and former UK chancellor George Osborne, who announced last week he was taking up a new role at OpenAI.
