HSBC names Montgomery Ho as Guangdong chief executive

He has more than 30 years of banking experience.

HSBC announced the appointment of Montgomery Ho as the Bank’s Guangdong Chief Executive. This appointment reflects HSBC’s ambition to achieve accelerated growth in Guangdong Province with a focus on the Pearl River Delta (PRD) as well as the Bank’s long term commitment to China. A Guangdong management team is also being appointed.

In an investor update on 9th June 2015, HSBC’s management set out the Bank’s intention to pivot to Asia. At the heart of this strategic action is a commitment to develop “businesses at scale” in the PRD that will resemble HSBC’s presence in Hong Kong. It is estimated that the PRD and Hong Kong banking industries in aggregate will become the largest banking revenue pool globally by 2025, worth USD185 billion1 2. The Bank’s medium-term goal is to generate USD1billion of Profit Before Tax (PBT) from the region, which is ten times today’s amount.

“Our expansion plans in the PRD are well supported by our infrastructure in Hong Kong and the Special Administrative Region’s close trade, investment and cultural links with Guangdong,” said HSBC’s Greater China Chief Executive, Helen Wong. “These are strongly reinforced by the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the progress of the Guangdong Free Trade zone.”

Montgomery Ho has more than 30 years of banking experience in Hong Kong and in mainland China. Since joining HSBC in 1983, he has held a number of positions in trade finance, strategy and planning and corporate banking. In October 2010, Mr Ho became Managing Director and Head of Commercial Banking for China. He was appointed Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of the Board of HSBC China in January 2014. He will continue in his Executive Director position, while adding the role of Senior Executive Vice President, upon his new appointment as Guangdong Chief Executive to ensure that HSBC capitalises on the market synergies between Guangdong and the rest of mainland China.