HSBC appoints new CEO for Europe, Middle East, Latin America

Stephen Moss who will also lead North Africa and Turkey is currently Group Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff/Bloomberg

HSBC Holdings has appointed Stephen Moss as regional Chief Executive overseeing Europe, Middle East, Latin America and Canada ahead of the bank’s strategic review across its global operations.

The US-China trade war and prolonged protests in Hong Kong, the heart of the lender’s business, have hit its business and been exacerbated in recent weeks by the coronavirus outbreak. HSBC’s European arm, meanwhile, lost $944 million in the nine months to September 2019.

James Emmett, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Europe, will leave the bank and be replaced by Nuno Matos, who was recently appointed head of the bank’s Mexican business. The moves come weeks after HSBC announced senior changes that included replacing its top investment banker.

Matos is a close lieutenant of HSBC’s acting Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn, who is the front-runner to become the bank’s permanent boss. Quinn has led HSBC since last August 2019, when he replaced the ousted John Flint.

Similarly, Moss who will also look after North Africa and Turkey is currently Group Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff.

HSBC is Europe’s largest bank and has operations in more than 60 countries employing about 237,000 staff. In its third-quarter results, the bank reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of $5.3 billion, down 12 per cent and below an analyst consensus for the period.

Quinn and HSBC’s senior management team are set to unveil a new strategy for the bank alongside its full-year results on 18 February 2020.