As it begins to find a successor for outgoing chief executive Qi Yaonian, HSBC Holdings prefers to look internally.
After Qi Yaonian announced his retirement plans last month, financial director Georges Elhedery and Nuno Matos, head of wealth and personal banking, were considered to be the leading candidates, according to people familiar with the matter. Some people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal processes, said HSBC had hired an external recruitment firm tobestpokerhandsThey were compared with external candidates.
People familiar with the matter said the search for a successor has just begun and the board could still move in the other direction. An HSBC spokesman declined to comment.
