(Hong Kong) Former UK based group general manager Michael Smith will take the place of retiring veteran Aman Mehta in the bank’s Hong Kong operation.Smith steps up from tenures as CEO of HSBC Argentina Holdings, as well as deputy CEO of the Hong Kong Malaysia Bank. He is currently the bank’s UK group general manager and will pick up the reins from one of HSBC’s longest servants.
Metha is retiring from the bank after 35 years citing “difficult times” since he took the role of CEO in 1999. HSBC performed solidly under Metha, reporting net profits in every year that he was in charge except 2002 when they experienced a decline of around 1.5 percent.
He said his greatest achievement was “managing a bank for deflation” and cutting costs when dealing with an economic downturn.
His replacement, Smith, will take over the operation early next year.