20th May 2015 05:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - HSBC Holdings PLC's plans to ring-fence its retail banking operations have hit a hitch after the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority indicated that a possible candidate to chair the ring-fenced bank wouldn't be able to take on the role, Sky News reported on Tuesday
HSBC's indicated to the regulator that it could want the chief executive of HSBC Bank PLC, Alan Keir, to become the chairman of the ring-fenced bank, Sky News said.
Although it didn't do so formally, HSBC asked whether it was possible for a waiver of proposed rules that say a director is not independent if he or she "has been an employee (other than holding an appointment as a non-executive director) of the ring-fenced body or of any other member of its group within the period of five years before his or her appointment as a director," it added.
The indication from the regulatory wing of the Bank of England is understood to have prompted HSBC to begin an external search for board members for its ring-fenced bank, even as speculation grows that Europe's biggest lender will spin off its UK business, according to Sky News.
The chair of a ring-fenced bank must be independent during his or her tenure on the board of the ring-fenced bank under the proposals.
The ring-fencing rules comes into force in 2019 in the UK.
http://news.sky.com/story/1487141/hsbc-hits-fresh-hurdle-over-ring-fence-plan
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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