Georges Elhedery

Georges Elhedery
Born	Lebanon
Education	École Polytechnique (Paris); École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique
Occupation	Banker
Company	HSBC Holdings plc
Title	Group Chief Executive

Georges Elhedery is a Lebanese-born banker who has been group chief executive of HSBC Holdings plc since 2 September 2024. He succeeded Noel Quinn, who had led the bank for five years, and became the first Middle East-born executive to run one of the world's largest banking groups by assets.

Elhedery joined HSBC in 2005 after earlier spells at Banque Paribas and Goldman Sachs, and spent close to two decades in trading, markets and regional leadership roles in Tokyo, Paris, Dubai and London before being appointed group chief financial officer in January 2023. As chief executive he has overseen a reorganisation of the bank into four global businesses, a multi-billion-dollar cost reduction programme, and the privatisation of Hang Seng Bank, its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary.

As of September 2026, Elhedery continues to serve as group chief executive; the bank's most recent interim results, published in August 2026, and his naming as Euromoney's Banker of the Year in July 2026, confirm he remains in the post.

Early life and education

Elhedery was born in Lebanon. Recalling his father's influence on his upbringing, Elhedery has said: "My Dad said that if I worked hard in my school and university years, all options would be available to me."

He studied engineering at the École Polytechnique in Paris before earning a postgraduate degree in statistics and economics at the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique. He began his career as a rates trader rather than moving directly into a graduate scheme, a route he later described as formative for his understanding of markets.

Career

Banque Paribas and Goldman Sachs, 1997 to 2005

Elhedery began his banking career at Banque Paribas in Tokyo in 1997, working as a rates trader. He moved to Goldman Sachs in 2001, where he remained until 2005.

Trading, markets and the Middle East, 2005 to 2019

Elhedery moved to the bank in 2005, gaining trading experience in London, Paris and Tokyo before moving into regional leadership. He was head of global banking and markets for the Middle East and North Africa, and then, from July 2016 to February 2019, chief executive of the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey business, a role based in Dubai that he held for roughly three years. During this period he was named to a list of rising stars in finance by the trade publication Financial News.

Global Head of Markets and co-Chief Executive, Global Banking and Markets, 2019 to 2022

After leaving the Middle East role, Elhedery became global head of markets and subsequently co-chief executive of global banking and markets, based in London, before his appointment to the Group Board.

Group Chief Financial Officer, 2023 to 2024

Elhedery was appointed group chief financial officer in January 2023 and joined the group's board on 1 January 2023. He served in the role until his appointment as group chief executive in 2024.

Group Chief Executive, since September 2024

Elhedery was named successor to Noel Quinn as group chief executive on 17 July 2024, taking up the post on 2 September 2024, after what the board described as an "orderly and robust" internal and external selection process. Group chairman Sir Mark Tucker said Elhedery was "an exceptional leader and banker who cares passionately about the Bank, our customers, and our people," citing his record of "driving growth while managing costs and simplification." On his appointment, Elhedery said: "I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me to lead this great institution into the future. Working together with our talented team, I look forward to delivering exceptional value to our clients and investors by driving strong performance on a sustainable growth trajectory." Quinn, who had led the bank for five years and worked there for 37 years, stepped down on the same date, with Tucker offering "warm and sincere thanks" for his tenure.

Within weeks of taking over, Elhedery began restructuring reporting lines and business divisions, described in detail in the Major deals and strategic decisions section below. As group chief executive, Elhedery also sits on the Group Operating Committee, the bank's primary decision-making body, which was created as part of his reorganisation and replaced the eighteen-member Group Executive Committee with a twelve-member body.

Leadership and management style

Elhedery has centred his tenure on simplifying the bank's management structure and speeding up decision-making. Announcing the reorganisation into four global businesses in October 2024, he said the changes would "make it easier for colleagues to serve customers" and create a "simpler, more dynamic, and agile organisation." On completing the second stage of the reorganisation in December 2024, he described the process as "measured, thoughtful and fair" and said it would "help us fast forward our plans to execute our strategic priorities."

Discussing the rationale for cutting duplicated roles as part of the cost programme, Elhedery said the bank was "targeting, in general, roles that are duplicated through either the removal of matrix management in large areas of the bank or duplicated because of the synergies we can achieve by merging our two wholesale businesses," and noted that because the roles affected tended to be senior and higher-paid, the resulting headcount reduction would be smaller in percentage terms than the reduction in staff costs.

Presenting the 2025 results, Elhedery summarised his approach as pairing pace with discipline: "2025 was a year of decisive action and swift execution... We are becoming a simple, more agile, focused bank, that moves with the speed our customers need to navigate the modern world. We are delivering growth, investing for growth and we are executing our strategy with discipline and precision." Presenting the 2026 interim results, he reiterated the theme: "HSBC is becoming the stronger bank we set out to build. We are executing our strategic priorities with pace, precision and discipline." In awarding him its 2026 Banker of the Year prize, Euromoney attributed the bank's pace of change under Elhedery to "a willingness to act and a willingness to listen" that enabled swift implementation of major decisions.

Major deals and strategic decisions

Reorganisation into four global businesses, 2024 to 2025

Elhedery's first major decision as chief executive was to dismantle the "complex matrix governance structure" of three global business lines and five geographic regions he had inherited, announcing in October 2024 that it would be replaced with four business units: Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, corporate and institutional banking, and international wealth and premier banking. Under his plan, the Hong Kong and UK units combined personal and commercial banking within those home markets, corporate and institutional banking merged commercial banking outside the UK and Hong Kong with global banking and markets, and international wealth and premier banking brought together premier banking, global private banking, asset management and insurance. Elhedery also grouped operations geographically into an "Eastern markets" division spanning Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and a "Western markets" division covering the non-ring-fenced UK bank, Continental Europe and the Americas. The changes took effect on 1 January 2025, with senior leadership teams for all four businesses and a new Group Operating Committee confirmed in December 2024.

Alongside the reorganisation, Elhedery set a target of cutting annual costs by $1.5 billion by the end of 2026, including a $300 million reduction in 2025, with severance and other up-front restructuring costs of $1.8 billion expected over the two years. He said the cost programme would fall mainly on senior, non-client-facing roles, and outlined plans to redeploy a further $1.5 billion from non-strategic activities toward wealth management, transaction banking and UK business banking. Early steps he took included winding down mergers-and-acquisitions and equity capital markets activity in the UK, Europe and the United States outside the bank's core Asian and Middle Eastern markets.

Privatisation of Hang Seng Bank, 2025 to 2026

On 9 October 2025, Elhedery proposed acquiring the roughly 37 percent of Hang Seng Bank the group did not already own, offering HK$155 per share, a 33 percent premium to the stock's 30-day average closing price, in a transaction valued at approximately HK$106 billion for the outstanding stake. He said the offer represented "a significant investment into Hong Kong's economy, underscoring our confidence in this market and commitment to its future as a leading global financial centre," and described the deal as "an exciting opportunity to grow both Hang Seng and HSBC." Elhedery said the intention was to preserve Hang Seng's brand, heritage and branch network while investing in the smaller bank's products, services and technology.

Hang Seng Bank shareholders approved the proposal on 8 January 2026, a vote Elhedery called a reflection of "strong confidence in Hang Seng Bank's franchise and in the opportunities that full ownership within the HSBC Group can unlock." The privatisation became effective on 26 January 2026 and Hang Seng Bank shares were delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the following day. Elhedery said Hang Seng would continue to operate with "its own governance, brand, branch network and customer proposition" within the group.

Financial and market performance

Elhedery's first full year as chief executive produced 2024 revenue of $65.9 billion and profit before tax of $32.3 billion, up $2.0 billion on 2023, with profit after tax of $25.0 billion. The board approved a dividend of $0.87 per share for the year, including a special dividend of $0.21, and a share buyback of up to $2 billion. Elhedery set a target return on tangible equity in the mid-teens for 2025 to 2027, excluding notable items.

For 2025, revenue reached $68.3 billion, up $2.4 billion, but profit before tax fell $2.4 billion to $29.9 billion and profit after tax fell $1.9 billion to $23.1 billion, a decline attributed mainly to a $4.9 billion year-on-year net adverse impact from notable items, including impairments tied to a stake in Bank of Communications and losses recycled on the sale of a French retail portfolio. Excluding notable items, constant-currency profit before tax rose $2.4 billion to $36.6 billion, and return on tangible equity was 17.2 percent, up 1.6 percentage points on 2024, against a reported figure of 13.3 percent. Net interest income rose to $34.8 billion and the common equity tier 1 capital ratio was held at 14.9 percent. The board approved a fourth interim dividend of $0.45 per share, taking the total for 2025 to $0.75 per share. Presenting the results, Elhedery raised his medium-term target to a return on tangible equity of 17 percent or better, excluding notable items, in each year from 2026 to 2028, alongside a target of revenue growth rising to 5 percent by 2028.

In the first half of 2026, Elhedery reported profit before tax of $19.5 billion, up 23 percent year on year, profit after tax of $15.3 billion, also up 23 percent, and revenue of $37.7 billion, up 11 percent. The board approved a second interim dividend of $0.10 per share and a share buyback of up to $1 billion, expected to complete by the third quarter of 2026, while the common equity tier 1 ratio stood at 14.1 percent, reflecting capital used in the Hang Seng Bank privatisation. Elhedery guided to banking net interest income of at least $46 billion for 2026 and to growth in target-basis operating expenses of about 1 percent compared with 2025.

On his appointment as chief executive in 2024, Elhedery's maximum potential annual pay package was reported at £10.6 million ($13.2 million), made up of a £1.38 million base salary, a £1.7 million fixed pay allowance, pension allowance and a bonus opportunity. In February 2025, the bank's remuneration committee proposed raising his maximum potential package to more than £15 million, restructuring it to reduce his fixed pay while significantly increasing his bonus and long-term share award opportunity, after the United Kingdom lifted the European Union's bonus cap for bankers. The committee said its objective was to keep "pay outcomes for our executive directors... strongly aligned with performance and shareholders' interests," and it had been consulting major shareholders on the proposal ahead of a shareholder vote.

Board memberships and outside roles

Beyond HSBC, Elhedery serves on the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is affiliated with the Asia Business Council, the International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the Mayor of Beijing, the UK-India CEO Forum, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the World Bank's Private Sector Investment Lab.

Personal life

Elhedery has described his upbringing as one in which his father stressed the value of education, recalling: "My Dad said that if I worked hard in my school and university years, all options would be available to me." He is described as multilingual, and press coverage of his appointment noted that he had taken a sabbatical to learn Mandarin before returning to head office in a senior finance role. He spent around ten years based in Dubai during his career.

Recognition

Elhedery was named to Financial News' list of rising stars in finance during his time leading the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey business. In July 2026, Euromoney named him Banker of the Year at its Awards for Excellence, writing that under his leadership "HSBC has transformed at an unparalleled pace for such a large and international bank." Accepting the award, Elhedery said: "I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition. It reflects the work of 210,000 colleagues across HSBC and the trust our customers place in us."

See also

• HSBC
• Noel Quinn
• Mark Tucker
• Hang Seng Bank

External links

• Georges Elhedery biography at HSBC Holdings plc