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A lack of suitable candidates has forced HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC) (OTCPK:HBCYF) to renew its search for the company’s next chair ahead of an October deadline, The Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) redoubled its search efforts in June after current chair Sir Mark Tucker accelerated his plans to leave the London- and Hong Kong-listed lender to become chairman of Asian insurer AIA in October.
Mario Greco, CEO of Zurich Insurance Group (OTCQX:ZURVY) (OTCQX:ZFSVF), Goldman Sachs (GS) executives Kevin Sneader and Richard Gnodde, and Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who resigned in May as chairman of Lloyd’s of London, were among some of the candidates HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) has reviewed for the role.
However, the company has yet to find eligible candidates from a pool of more than 100 names initially considered for its final short list. Some of the candidates were unavailable, while others refused to take up the role when contacted, the people said.
HSBC and its London-based headhunters, MWM Consulting, have even reached out to those who dropped out of the first round before the board could meet them. The process is likely to extend beyond Tucker’s impending departure, and Brendan Nelson, the head of HSBC’s audit committee, is expected to assume his role on an interim basis.
The company said that “the process to appoint a new chairman is under way. Brendan Nelson will be interim chairman from 1 October. We will provide an update in due course.”