HSBC APAC Chief Risk Officer Steps Down

Family reasons were cited as the recent for the exit with an interim head being flown in from the U.K. Ed Jenkins steps down after joining HSBC more than a decade ago and less than a year after being named chief risk officer for the region. He will take a sabbatical after July 1 before returning to the bank in October, according to a report citing an internal memo.

Marc McKewon, Jenkins’ predecessor, will return from the U.K. to become the Hong Kong-based interim chief risk officer. McKewon is currently the global chief corporate credit officer, head of the wholesale market and credit risk.

HSBC has been a major receipt of increasing risks across social, economic and political fronts. In addition to the broad-based effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the bank has been spotlighted in reported tensions with pro-democracy protesters; dividend-hungry shareholders; Beijing-backed officials; British Tory members; and internal staff.

HSBC is also concurrently attempting to restart and deepen an overhaul originally targeting a giant reduction of 35,000 job, $4.5 billion in costs and $100 billion in risk-weighted assets.