Highlights
- She became CFO on January 1, 2025 and previously served as Group Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
- HSBC shares have risen 125 per cent since her appointment
- Her exit follows other recent senior departures, including Edward Moncreiffe, Gerry Keefe, James Grafton, Steve Jobber and Lisa McGeough
HSBC's chief financial officer Pam Kaur, the first woman to hold the role in the bank's more than 160-year history, plans to step down in 2027, the bank announced on Thursday (10).
Kaur will not stand for re-election as a director at HSBC's 2027 annual general meeting. Her exact retirement date as Group CFO will be confirmed in due course but will be no later than the 2027 AGM, which is usually held in May.
HSBC said its board has already begun searching for a successor and will consider both internal and external candidates.
After leaving the full-time CFO role, Kaur will take on an advisory position supporting Group CEO Georges Elhedery on ongoing strategic projects.
The Indian executive was appointed Group CFO on January 1 last year, becoming the first woman to serve as HSBC's finance chief. She was also appointed to the HSBC board at the start of 2025.
Since her appointment, she has been widely regarded as a key aide to Elhedery as he led a global overhaul of the bank, splitting it into East and West regional divisions through market exits and cost cuts.
"Pam Kaur's exit is a bit of a surprise but she has done a good job since being appointed in supporting Elhedery's restructuring and selling off superfluous parts of the bank, the results of which can be seen in the share price," said Edward Firth, analyst at KBW in London.
HSBC's shares have risen 125 per cent since her appointment, alongside similar gains at other big British banks that have benefited from favourable interest rates and resilient credit quality despite global economic uncertainty.
A long career
Before becoming CFO, Kaur served as group chief risk officer from January 2020 and took on responsibility for compliance in June 2021, serving as group chief risk and compliance officer until December 2024.
She joined HSBC in April 2013 as group head of internal audit. Before that, she held senior positions including global head of group audit at Deutsche Bank, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Restructuring and Risk Division at Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, group head of compliance and anti-money laundering at Lloyds TSB, and chief compliance officer at Citigroup International.
She has also previously served as a non-executive director of Centrica plc and Aberdeen Group plc, and currently serves as a non-executive director of HSBC's subsidiary, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.
Kaur holds a BCom (Honours) from Panjab University in India and an MBA in Finance, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Her planned departure follows other recent high-profile exits at HSBC. Last month, the bank's global chief executive for the insurance business, Edward Moncreiffe, left after two decades at the group.
Other recent departures include former head of banking for Europe and the Americas Gerry Keefe, who resigned in April, and cash equities trading heads James Grafton and Steve Jobber, who left in February. The bank's former US banking chief, Lisa McGeough, departed last September.
