HSBC board seeks new talent after tax avoidance scandal

HSBC has appointed headhunters to find new non-executive directors in an effort to freshen up its board.

Europe’s biggest bank has previously said its next chairman will be an external candidate, and it has also been reported that one of the new non-executives was likely to be a replacement for Chairman Douglas Flint.

Shareholders and industry sources have previously said they expected Flint to step down in the next 12 to 24 months.

The bank has appointed headhunters MWM Consulting to search for new non-executive directors, a source said.

HSBC has been shaken by a scandal over failings at its Swiss private bank after allegations it helped clients to dodge taxes.

Flint, 59, has been chairman since 2010, and before that hadbeen finance director since 1995. He is respected for his regulatory expertiseand he also chairs industry lobby group the Institute of International Finance.

Several investors said the time was right for HSBC to planfor a change.“Douglas Flint has been a good company man, but due to (thelength of) his tenure, a lot of things have gone wrong while he has beenthere,” one of the bank’s 20 largest shareholders said.

Flint was appointed chairman and Stuart Gulliver was namedchief executive after a boardroom battle in 2010, which marked a departure fromHSBC’s track record of orderly successions.

After that, the bank said it had told shareholders the boardwould ensure it had non-executives eligible to move up to be the next chairman andone of them probably would.

HSBC’s longest serving non-executives who could be replaced include Rona Fairhead and Simon Robertson, who have been on the board for 11years and nine years respectively. Sam Laidlaw, Rachel Lomax and Safra Catz,also non-executives, have been on the board since 2008.