HSBC's New CFO: Pam Kaur

By Sinead Cruise and Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC's history-making new Chief Financial Officer, Pam Kaur, is a battle-hardened risk and audit veteran who credits her success to the "Power of Chi".

As the first woman to occupy this role in the bank's 160-year history, she has closely observed the challenges facing HSBC under new CEO Georges Elhedery, particularly navigating a new interest rate cycle and increasingly complex relations between China and the West.

Indian-born Kaur, 60, joined HSBC from Deutsche Bank in April 2013, rising to the role of group chief risk and compliance officer before her latest promotion announced in a sweeping revamp on Tuesday.

Before HSBC, Kaur held senior positions in risk and audit at Citi and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as enduring a crisis-era tenure at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Posts on LinkedIn provide insights into Kaur's management style, emphasizing courage and confidence within her "Power of Chi" strategy, which she promotes to over 10,000 followers.

Kaur will need all the positive energy she can muster as global lenders, including HSBC, aim to insulate strategies from geopolitical tensions, manage rising operational costs, and seek new revenue sources.

"You never want anyone in a senior position seeing bad stuff for the first time; you need someone who's faced live bullets before they go into battle," remarked a former co-worker, lauding Kaur's extensive experience.

While expected to maintain a low public profile as CFO, Kaur is likely to leverage her vast experience to influence HSBC's future trajectory alongside CEO Elhedery, who aims to unlock the bank's full potential following the reorganization.

Despite this, analysts have expressed concerns over the lack of detail regarding potential savings and changes to retail operations outside the UK and Hong Kong, especially in Mexico.

Though calls for breaking up the bank from its largest shareholder, Ping An Insurance Group, have receded, other investors demand strategies for improving risk-adjusted returns given that HSBC shares have underperformed this year.

Gender Gap in Banking

Kaur joins a small but growing cohort of women in top banking roles, including Citi CEO Jane Fraser and Morgan Stanley CFO Sharon Yeshaya. Kaur identifies as a "passionate supporter of diversity and inclusion" and serves as a global sponsor of HSBC's Embrace employee network, which aims to foster a more diverse workforce among the bank's 225,000 employees worldwide.

Beyond immediate CFO challenges, Kaur is expected to push for increased efforts to close HSBC's gender pay gap, which stands at 43.2% in 2023 across all UK entities, marking one of the widest in both banking and other industries.

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