Report: HSBC’s CEO to leave after losing fight to move up to chairman

Report: HSBC’s CEO to step down

LONDON — A published report says that HSBC’s chief executive has lost his bid to move up to chairman and will leave the bank by the end of the year.

The Financial Times said Michael Geoghegan was the loser in a boardroom battle over the successor to HSBC Chairman Stephen Green, who is stepping down to take a government job.

The Financial Times said Friday that Stuart Gulliver, the head of HSBC’s investment banking operations, was in line to succeed Geoghegan as chief executive, and the Chief Financial Officer Douglas Flint would become chairman.

The newspaper attributed its report to two unidentified people close to the board of HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s largest bank.

HSBC says that no decision has been made, and it has declined to confirm reports that the board will meet in Shanghai next week.