HSBC Australia

HSBC Australia Appoints Kaber Mclean as Chief Executive Officer

Kaber Mclean HSBC, the UK based multinational banking service provider recently revealed in an announcement the appointment of new Chief Executive Officer. As per the announcement, it has appointed Mr. Kaber Mclean a long term executive of the bank to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of its Australian division.

Aside from the role of CEO, he will also join HSBC Australia’s board as one of its Executive Directors and will take on both his new roles from 1st March 2020. The newly-appointed head of Australian division has been with the bank for more than two decades now having joined the bank in 1996 and will be succeeding Mr. Martin Tricaud who has moved on to the role of regional CEO for HSBC’s Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey operations. During his multi-decade long career with the bank Kaber has held multiple senior-level roles with a proven and successful track record. 

In his new role As Executive Director and CEO, Kaber will be responsible for leading the bank’s next phase of growth in Australia as it seeks to continue expanding market share and revenues across retail banking and wealth management, commercial banking and global banking and markets. In the interim period until Mr. McLean’s ascension to the role, the post of CEO is being held by Mr. Noel McNamara who has been the acting head since June of 2019.

Once Mr. Kaber takes on the new role post-approval from regulatory and immigration authorities, Mr. McNamara will continue to serve in his original role as Chief Risk Officer. In his extensive career history, Mr. McLean has served across all major market regions – Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe and is an expert in Global Banking and Markets business making him an ideal candidate for the bank’s effort to push forward with its new growth and expansion plans. 

This move comes at a crucial time as HSBC has been under severe scrutiny from its major market Hong Kong having been accused by protestors for being complicit in actions by authorities against activists trying to raise money to support their campaign.

In its next growth phase plans dubbed “Three-year strategic plan”, the bank aims to focus on boosting its scale of operations in retail banking and increase wholesale banking revenues by tapping a greater share of international business activity targeting growth sectors of the economy and addressing the growing demand for sustainable finance.

Some of his most notable roles in HSBC during his 24-year long career at the bank are – President and CEO of HSBC Japan, Head of Wholesale Credit and Market Risk for APAC and Head of Remediation Office – APAC. 

Commenting on Kaber’s new role, Peter Wong – Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Corporation Ltd said, “I am delighted that Kaber will be leading our Australian business, which is a priority international market for HSBC. We have strong growth ambitions in Australia, and Kaber brings the right breadth of experience, strong leadership capabilities and deep knowledge of our international network”.

He also thanked Mr. Noel for his contributions as interim CEO stating, “I would also like to thank Noel for his significant contribution over the past eight months, and for the exceptional leadership he has shown during an important period for the bank”.

Source: 

https://www.about.hsbc.com.au/news-and-media/kaber-mclean-ceo-australia