HSBC chair Mark Tucker to return to Asia insurer AIA after overseeing bank overhaul
HSBC chairman Mark Tucker will depart HSBC by Sept 30 and will step into the role of AIA chairman on Oct 1. PHOTO: REUTERS
HONG KONG - HSBC Holdings' high-profile chairman Mark Tucker will return to the insurance sector as chair of Hong Kong-based AIA Group, after having presided over top management changes and navigated Sino-US tensions at the Asia-focused lender.
Mr Tucker will depart HSBC by Sept 30 and will step into the role of AIA chairman on Oct 1, the two companies said in separate statements on June 6. Mr Tucker served as AIA chief executive and president between 2010 and 2017.
Mr Brendan Nelson, a former KPMG partner and board member who is the chair of HSBC's group audit committee, would become interim chairman from Oct 1, as the bank continues with its search for a permanent replacement, it said.
Mr Tucker's departure from HSBC, which generates the bulk of its revenues and profits in Asia, will cap an eventful eight-year tenure at the lender, during which he oversaw a sweeping restructuring and shrinking of the bank.
Under Mr Tucker's stewardship, HSBC has had to deal with a constant drumbeat of geopolitical tensions, as Britain, together with the US, clashed with China, where the bank has its second home and major profit engine in the financial hub of Hong Kong.
Those experiences, as well as his deep Asia and insurance sector expertise, will stand him in good stead in the new role at AIA, as the pan-Asian insurer looks to bolster market share in the key markets of mainland China and Hong Kong.
Mr Tucker will replace Mr Edmund Sze-Wing Tse as AIA's chairman.
Shares in AIA were up 1.8 per cent, while Hong Kong shares of HSBC were down 0.3 per cent. Hong Kong's benchmark index was off 0.2 per cent.
Besides mainland China and Hong Kong, AIA's 18 markets in Asia include Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines and South Korea. It also has a joint venture in India.
A one-time professional soccer player, Mr Tucker, who took AIA public shortly after his appointment in 2010, has previously held several leadership jobs in the insurance sector, including at Britain's Prudential.
His departure from HSBC was not a surprise. He was nearing the end of the nine-year maximum advised for chair roles under Britain's corporate governance code, and the bank announced on May 1 that he would step down before the end of the year.
Since joining HSBC in 2017, becoming the bank's first-ever externally recruited chairman, British-born Tucker worked with four different CEOs, and he was involved in the selection of three of them.
Mr Tucker was seen by investors, analysts and insiders as a key person at the bank to help it navigate geopolitical tensions and expand its business in China as part of its Asia pivot to boost growth.
Geopolitical tensions came to a head for HSBC in May 2023 when its then-biggest shareholder, Ping An Insurance of China, lobbied for the bank to spin off its Asian business, a proposal ultimately defeated at HSBC's annual shareholder meeting.
HSBC's senior independent director Ann Godbehere said the selection process to appoint a permanent chairman was underway. Mr Tucker will serve as a strategic adviser to CEO Georges Elhedery and the board while the recruitment search remains in place.
'Brendan's extensive experience on UK-listed boards, and as Group Audit Chair, makes him ideally placed to assume the role on an interim basis while the process continues,' Ms Godbehere said of Mr Nelson.
He previously served as an independent non-executive director at several major UK-listed companies, including oil giant BP and financial services firm NatWest.
HSBC is expected to search for Mr Tucker's successor from its current board, sources familiar with the bank's plans told Reuters. Among the leading candidates is former Citigroup President Jamie Forese, the sources said. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Japan scraps US meeting after Washington demands more defence spending: report
[WASHINGTON] Japan has cancelled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally, the United States, after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defence, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday (Jun 20). US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet their Japanese counterparts in Washington on Jul 1 for annual 2+2 security talks. But Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the US side asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, higher than an earlier request of 3 per cent, the paper cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter, including two officials in Tokyo, as saying. A US official who did not want to be identified confirmed Japan had 'postponed' the talks but said the decision was made several weeks ago. The source did not cite a reason. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting, but not the reason for it doing so. US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she had no comment on the FT report when asked about it at the regular briefing, and the Pentagon also had no immediate comment. Japan's embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The Financial Times said the new higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key US ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. In March, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that other nations do not decide Japan's defence budget after Colby called in his nomination hearing to be under secretary of defence for policy, for Tokyo to spend more to counter China. Japan and other US allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over US President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff offensive. The FT said the decision to cancel the Jul 1 meeting was also related to Japan's Jul 20 Upper House elections, at which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to suffer a loss of seats. It comes ahead of a meeting of the US-led Nato alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Japan scraps US meeting after Washington demands more defence spending
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gives his opening speech at the beginning of the meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his office in Tokyo, in March. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - Japan has cancelled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the United States after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defence, the Financial Times (FT) reported on June 20. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet their Japanese counterparts in Washington on July 1 for annual 2+2 security talks. But Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the US side asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, higher than an earlier request of 3 per cent, the paper cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter, including two officials in Tokyo, as saying. A US official who did not want to be identified confirmed that Japan had 'postponed' the talks but said the decision was made several weeks ago. The source did not cite a reason. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting, but not the reason for it doing so. US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she had no comment on the FT report when asked about it at regular briefing, and the Pentagon also had no immediate comment. Japan's embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The Financial Times said the new higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Mr Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key US ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. In March, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that other nations do not decide Japan's defence budget after Mr Colby called in his nomination hearing to be under secretary of defence for policy for Tokyo to spend more to counter China. Japan and other US allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over US President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff offensive. The FT said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 Upper House elections, at which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to suffer a loss of seats. It comes ahead of a meeting of the US-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Mr Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defence spending to 5 percent of GDP. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Meta discussed buying Perplexity before investing in Scale
[LOS ANGELES] Meta Platforms held discussions with artificial intelligence (AI) search startup Perplexity AI about a possible takeover before moving ahead with a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI, according to sources familiar with the matter. The two companies could not come to an agreement and decided not to pursue the deal, said the sources, who asked not to be named as the details of the talks are not public. The financial terms under discussion could not be learned. Perplexity recently closed a new round of funding at a US$14 billion valuation. Meta also attempted to hire Perplexity chief executive officer Aravind Srinivas to join the social media company's new 'superintelligence' team, which is focused on building more powerful AI systems, the sources said. The talks with Meta, which have not previously been reported, highlight Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's willingness to use deals and big hires to catch up in the AI race. The talks took place before Meta finalised a US$14.3 billion investment in Scale AI that gives it a 49 per cent stake in the data-labelling startup. Meta and Perplexity did not respond to requests for comment. Founded in 2022, Perplexity has emerged as one of the most prominent startups using generative AI to rethink core Internet services. Perplexity is taking on Alphabet's Google by offering an AI tool that summarises search results, lists citations for its answers and helps users refine their queries to get the best responses. The startup is also developing an AI-powered web browser. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Frustrated with the pace of Meta's AI development, Zuckerberg is making a concerted push to poach top AI talent from across the industry with lucrative pay packages. Meta has succeeded in hiring Scale AI's former CEO Alexandr Wang, as well as top researchers from Google DeepMind and Sesame AI. Not everyone is jumping to join Meta, however. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast this week that some on his staff had been approached by Meta with offers of US$100 million signing bonuses and even bigger compensation packages, but had declined to join the company. Meta has been in talks with former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to recruit him to the new team, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company has also been working on hiring Daniel Gross, the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, a research lab founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, the source said. Meta has also held early discussions for a computing deal in which Safe Superintelligence would use Meta's data centre infrastructure, the source said. Representatives for Safe Superintelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other Big Tech firms, including Google and have tried to establish themselves as the backbone of the AI ecosystem by providing chips and cloud computing resources to AI startups. Meta has not gone this route to date. BLOOMBERG
