HSBC already said it plans to pick an outsider to replace current chair Douglas Flint when it makes its choice next year. Now there is a suitable one on the market. Henri de Castries, who recently joined HSBC as a board member, on March 21 announced he was retiring as boss of French insurer AXA. He could fit the bill for the UK bank, at a push.
The Anglo-Hong Kong bank's traditional way of appointing a new chairman was simple: it just picked the incumbent chief executive. John Bond and Stephen Green both became chairmen, and while Flint wasn't previously chief executive, he was finance director. Even before HSBC was last year criticised for enabling historic Swiss tax evasion, this arrangement meant its leaders' perceived ability to knock heads together was undermined by having been at the bank when the screw-ups happened.
De Castries, who has been at AXA since 1989, would solve this at a stroke. His tenure has been a qualified success: since he took the helm in May 2000, AXA shares have recorded a total return of six per cent, against a seven per cent fall in the European insurance sector, and a 38 per cent negative total return for German rival Allianz. Just over a fifth of AXA's life and savings business is in Asia, and premiums earned there have doubled since 2010.
The Frenchman wouldn't be a perfect fit. He has been in situ at AXA for over 15 years, a bit too long for comfort. He also has spent the last six years as chairman and chief executive, which is even less ideal if HSBC seriously wants to iron out the wrinkles in its own governance. That said, there's much to be said for a global bank rooted in the UK and Asia hiring a continental European outsider. De Castries isn't exactly a fresh face, but AXA's loss could be HSBC's gain.
