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HSBC Holdings’ ( HSBC ) shares rose Tuesday after the London-based bank surprised the market and said its group chief executive (CEO), Noel Quinn, was stepping down after nearly five years at the helm.
The bank said Quinn, a 37-year-veteran at the lender, will stay on as it looks for a successor.
First-Quarter Pretax Profit Declined
HSBC, which makes most of its profit from Hong Kong and has pivoted more of its business to Asia under Quinn, also announced Tuesday that pretax profit fell to $12.7 billion in the first three months of the year from $12.9 billion in the same quarter last year.
HSBC is one of the world’s biggest trade financiers, taking advantage of its roots in Hong Kong to connect China with the rest of the world.
It has, however, struggled to navigate the rising tensions between the West and China in recent years. The bank got into Beijing’s bad books when it cooperated with American prosecutors in a case against China’s Huawei Technologies and also encountered trouble with British lawmakers over its stance in Hong Kong, which was rocked by protests in 2019.
Quinn, under Chairman Mark Tucker, has been leading a process of streamlining the lender in recent years and slashing thousands of jobs as part of its pivot to Asia, most recently with its sale of its Argentina business and its Canadian operations.
HSBC’s American Depositary Receipts were up 3.6% at $43.72 at around 3:00 p.m. ET.