HSBC shake-up at the top

A major shake-up of management at HSBC today will see the boss of its UK retail bank Paul Thurston return to Hong Kong to run the entire group's retail and wealth management businesses.

His appointment is the first by new chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who was the former head of the investment banking arm in London.

Some industry people had expected him to recruit from there rather than general banking.

Gulliver said: "Configuring HSBC to realise its full potential in retail banking was always going to be my first priority. Customers are thinking more carefully about who they trust with their wealth and savings."

This is the first time HSBC has brought global retail and wealth management together under one director.

It highlights how importantly the bank views the market in South-east Asia for banking to the rapidly rising middle class.

HSBC played down any suggestion that Thurston's move to Hong Kong, where he has previously worked for the bank for eight years, meant it was again considering shifting its headquarters from London to the former British colony.

It pointed out that the current global head of retail banking Sandy Flockhart will be returning to the UK to chair the retail bank here.

The new chief executive of the UK bank will be Brian Robertson, HSBC's chief risk officer.