HSBC Chair Tucker to return to Asia insurer AIA after overseeing bank overhaul

By Scott Murdoch and Rishav Chatterjee

(Reuters) -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-U.S. tensions at the Asia-focused lender.

Tucker will depart HSBC by September 30 and will step into the role of AIA chairman on October 1, the two companies said in separate statements on Friday. Tucker served as AIA chief executive and president between 2010 and 2017.

Brendan Nelson, a former KPMG partner and board member who is the chair of HSBC's group audit committee, would become interim chairman from October 1, as the bank continues with its search for a permanent replacement, it said.

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 Tucker's stewardship, HSBC has had to deal with a constant drumbeat of geopolitical tensions, as Britain, together with the U.S., 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.

Tucker will replace Edmund Sze-Wing Tse as AIA's chairman.

Shares in AIA were up 1.8%, while Hong Kong shares of HSBC were down 0.3%. Hong Kong's benchmark index was off 0.2%.

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, 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.

ASIA PIVOT

Tucker's 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.

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. 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," Godbehere said of 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 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.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Jamie Freed)