HSBC banking head exits

HSBC’s top banking executive for Europe and the Americas, Gerry Keefe, has resigned as the bank pushes deeper into a restructuring launched in 2024. (reuters.com) HSBC disclosed the departure on Tuesday, April 14, in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters and confirmed by a spokesperson. Jo Miyake, who runs banking in Asia and the Middle East, will take Keefe’s job on an interim basis. (reuters.com) Keefe had been in the role for about a year, overseeing commercial and investment banking operations across the two regions. Bloomberg reported he is leaving for a job outside financial services. (reuters.com) (bloomberg.com) The exit lands in the middle of Chief Executive Georges Elhedery’s effort to redraw HSBC around four businesses: Hong Kong, United Kingdom, corporate and institutional banking, and international wealth and premier banking. HSBC announced that structure on October 22, 2024, and said it took effect from January 1, 2025. (hsbc.com 1) (hsbc.com 2) That overhaul also merged parts of HSBC’s commercial and investment banking operations and split management more clearly between eastern and western markets. Reuters reported at the time that the plan was designed to cut costs and improve returns under Elhedery, who became chief executive in September 2024. (reuters.com) (hsbc.com) HSBC has tied the reorganisation to a cost program that targets about $0.3 billion of savings in 2025 and an annualised $1.5 billion reduction in its cost base by the end of 2026. In its 2025 annual results presentation, the bank said cost reallocation had been raised from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion and was on track. (hsbc.com 1) (hsbc.com 2) The management churn has extended beyond Keefe. When HSBC set out the next stage of the reorganisation in December 2024, it named new senior leadership teams across the group’s four businesses and the wider operating committee. (hsbc.com) Keefe’s departure leaves another open question in the western part of HSBC’s corporate and institutional bank while Elhedery keeps reshaping the lender around its strongest markets and businesses. For now, the bank is relying on Miyake to bridge both sides of that franchise. (reuters.com) (hsbc.com)