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HSBC has started a new search for its upcoming chair, after the bank faced challenges in narrowing down a suitable final shortlist from over 100 initial candidates for the position.

Europe’s largest financial institution has had to conduct a second round of candidate evaluations to succeed Sir Mark Tucker in what is considered one of the most challenging positions in banking, as per individuals familiar with the situation.

HSBC has considered executives such as Mario Greco, CEO of Zurich Insurance Group; Goldman Sachs executives Kevin Sneader and Richard Gnodde; along with Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who was recently the chair of Lloyd’s of London insurance market.

Some of the candidates of interest to the board were unavailable while others had declined when approached, the people said.

A spokesperson for Zurich said: “Mario was approached by a headhunter and immediately said no, because he is committed to Zurich.” 

The London and Hong Kong-listed bank has not ruled out appointing one of its current board members to the role if it cannot find a suitable candidate. 

Tucker’s decision in June to accelerate his planned exit from HSBC so he can take up the chair at Asian insurer AIA in October has rushed the bank’s search for his replacement, though people involved conceded that the process had been moving slowly.

HSBC’s position straddling China and the US, as one of the largest dollar clearing institutions in the world, means its leaders have to combine financial services experience with the deftness typically required from diplomats to navigate tensions between the world’s two largest economies. 

HSBC and London-based headhunters MWM Consulting have redoubled efforts on the search for a new chair by approaching candidates who had been dismissed during the first round before the board had a chance to meet them, said the people familiar with the matter. 

The bank is in contact with several potential candidates but the process is unlikely to conclude before Tucker leaves and is replaced on an interim basis by Brendan Nelson, the head of HSBC’s audit committee.

Candidates will also need to at least have familiarity with Asia, a region that contributes most of the bank’s profits and has received renewed focus from chief executive Georges Elhedery, and time to dedicate to what is essentially a full-time job with at times a punishing travel schedule.  

The bank kicked off the search last year in anticipation of Tucker reaching the end of the nine-year term recommended under UK corporate governance rules in September 2026.

But despite the comprehensive search and Tucker’s £1.6mn in pay and benefits from the bank last year, the committee, led by senior independent non-executive director Ann Godbehere, has so far not selected a replacement.

Executives at HSBC have privately acknowledged that they will probably have to make compromises on certain criteria, said one person familiar with the conversations. “There is a realisation that the candidates may not have all the experience the bank wants,” they said. 

Before Tucker’s appointment in 2017, the bank been chaired by insiders for its entire 159-year history.

He has made the role into a hugely influential one, removing executives he considered to be underperforming and steering the lender through a fight with its then biggest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An, which threatened to break up the company.

HSBC appointed three chief executives during Tucker’s tenure, landing on Elhedery, who took the helm in September last year following Noel Quinn’s surprise resignation. 

“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,” the bank said. The other potential candidates named were approached for comment.

Additional reporting by Lee Harris and Harriet Agnew in London

This article has been amended after publication to correct the currency in which Sir Mark Tucker is paid