HSBC has promoted Paul Thurston to the role of chief executive, retail banking and wealth management, a position that will also see him direct the bank's technology overhaul programme.
Thurston, currently heading up the bank's UK operations, will be based in Hong Kong when he takes up the new position in March, directing all aspects of HSBC's retail banking business globally, including the personal financial services and insurance businesses, and marketing activities.
The new role also sees him "direct the transformation of retail operations and technology platforms". The bank is currently in the middle of a massive project - called One HSBC - to migrate its global operations onto a single technology platform.
The group chief technology and services officer will report to Thurston after the shake-up which sees Brian Robertson, currently group chief risk officer taking over UK operations. Robertson is replaced by Marc Moses.
Stuart Gulliver, group chief executive designate, says: "After the financial crisis, I believe customers are thinking more carefully about who they trust with their wealth and savings and configuring HSBC to realise its full potential in retail banking was always going to be my first priority. With the massive wealth creation we see in emerging markets today, the logic for HSBC to build a world-class global wealth business for our customers is absolutely compelling."