HSBC Taps Citigroup Veteran for U.S. Chief -- WSJ

By Margot Patrick 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 9, 2019).

HSBC Holdings PLC signaled a fresh effort to turn around its lagging U.S. business by hiring Citigroup Inc. veteran Michael Roberts to succeed Patrick Burke as chief executive of HSBC USA when he retires later this year.

Mr. Burke, 57 years old, has held the job since 2014 and has been with HSBC since 1989. Mr. Roberts, 58, has worked as Citigroup's chief lending officer and its global head of corporate banking and capital management. He has been at Citigroup for 34 years.

The move comes as HSBC tries to turn around its business in the U.S., which was flagged this year by Chief Executive John Flint as a key priority. HSBC's business in the U.S. consists of around 1.3 million retail-banking and wealth-management customers, clustered mainly on the East and West coasts, as well as commercial- and investment-banking operations.

A giant in Asian banking markets and in Britain, HSBC ranks number 14 in U.S. banks by assets, according to Federal Reserve data. HSBC also has a top-five Mexican bank by number of branches.

The U.S. unit's return on tangible equity was 2.7% last year, well below a 6% 2020 target. HSBC's aspiration is to make it a top international bank in the U.S., tapping both foreign companies doing business there and U.S. companies looking to join with banks abroad.

Mr. Flint said Mr. Burke has been instrumental in the continuing U.S. turnaround plan. Before becoming CEO of HSBC USA, Mr. Burke oversaw a wind-down of the bank's troubled consumer-finance business, which lost tens of billions of dollars in the financial crisis from subprime lending. His retirement had been expected after a long run with the bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

The hiring of Mr. Roberts marks HSBC's latest effort to recruit from outside the bank. In 2017, the 154-year-old bank hired its first outside chairman, Mark Tucker. He in turn appointed an HSBC lifer, John Flint, to be chief executive in 2018, but has sought to enliven the bank's bureaucratic image by encouraging more outside hires.

Mr. Roberts will start at HSBC in October, and Mr. Burke will stay on for a transition period, an HSBC spokesman said.

Allison Prang contributed to this article.

Write to Margot Patrick at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 09, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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