LONDON • With markets melting down and the global economy headed towards recession, HSBC Holdings picked a known quantity to lead it through the mayhem.
Mr Noel Quinn, a 33-year veteran of the lender and interim chief executive for the past seven months, was named to the post permanently, minutes after the British government announced a "wartime" spending effort to counter the coronavirus.
The appointment caps a rise from obscurity that makes him a pivotal executive in efforts to keep worldwide commerce from succumbing to the effects of the pandemic. HSBC is Europe's largest financial company by market value and the biggest international lender in China.
Mr Quinn's "primary challenge will be to provide ongoing liquidity support to customers in tandem with government support schemes", said Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst John Cronin.
Even before the fallout from the virus paralysed economies, HSBC chairman Mark Tucker's CEO search had grown fraught.
The lender had approached at least three high-profile outsiders - former Citigroup bankers James Forese and Stephen Bird and UniCredit's Jean Pierre Mustier.
By sticking with Mr Quinn, Mr Tucker went with what insiders call a safe pair of hands who has impressed directors by acting decisively since Mr John Flint was ousted in August last year.
Mr Tucker was dissatisfied that Mr Flint was not acting urgently enough to revive growth at an Asia-focused lender that has been unable to produce a better return.
"In the last few months, Noel has worked closely with the board to agree the key actions required to build and enhance performance on a sustainable basis," Mr Tucker said on Tuesday.
Mr Quinn reorganised the executive ranks and last month unveiled a revamp that looked set to cut about 35,000 jobs and numerous underperforming businesses.
Referring to Mr Quinn's appointment, Mr Eric Moore, portfolio manager at Miton Group, said: "The strategy is set, and maybe he can bring a bit of continuity. But with the prospect of a global downturn, he will have to deliver more."
Unlike several of his predecessors, Mr Quinn is not a product of HSBC's elite international manager cadre. He attended Birmingham Polytechnic in England before training as an accountant.
His first job was digging holes at a building site and his banking career began at Forward Trust, a financing and leasing unit of Midland Bank, the British lender that HSBC bought in 1992. He spent the next two decades working his way up the commercial banking business, spending much of his time in Asia, before emerging at the top of the unit in late 2015.
He now earns a base salary of £1.27 million (S$2.2 million) as well as £1.8 million in fixed allowances. His bonus can reach £2.7 million, and he will receive a long-term award of almost £4.1 million.
But HSBC's key markets are going through serial crises - Brexit at home, the fallout of democracy protests in Hong Kong and the pandemic.
The lender, which generated half its revenue in Asia last year, said last month that in the most extreme scenario, in which the virus continues into the second half of the year, it could see US$600 million (S$863 million) in additional loan losses.
Separately, S&P Global estimated that the outbreak would add US$100 billion in credit losses to banks in the Asia-Pacific this year.
Still, "given that Noel Quinn has been leading the restructuring of the bank, his appointment removes an element of uncertainty at a time of crisis that investors will find reassuring", said banks analyst Joseph Dickerson at Jefferies.
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