HSBC chief in quit threat over role of chairman

Europe's biggest bank is expected to decide at a board meeting in Shanghai next week on a replacement for chairman Stephen Green, who will quit to become the trade and investment minister in January.

Mr Geoghegan was "not happy" when he was told at a meeting last week that the board was not ready to give him the chairmanship, the report said, quoting a person familiar with the bank's succession planning.

People close to Mr Geoghegan said he might not follow through on his threat to leave, the report said.

HSBC said it expects to approve a successor by the end of the year. It declined to comment further.

HSBC has a history of promoting its CEO to the chairmanship, but when Mr Green made that move five years ago it angered many investors, who said it went against best corporate practice. Critics say it is hard for a former CEO to be objective about strategic decisions he or she had made.

A top 10 shareholder in HSBC said yesterday: "We would prefer an independent non-executive chairman.

"However, we believe there should be more flexibility... where it is clear that senior management needs to have a very firm grasp of the breadth of activity of what can be a very complex business."