Delhi 20 march 2025 (Punjab Khabarnama Bureau): A global overhaul at HSBC Holdings Plc has seen female executives in Asia lose out after the lender asked managers to reapply for senior roles in the combined corporate and institutional banking unit.
Two women, Christina Ma, head of global banking for Asia-Pacific, and Amanda Murphy, who’s in charge of commercial banking for South and Southeast Asia, were in the running to lead the merged unit for Asia and Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter. They both lost and Ma is leaving the bank.
Out of at least 15 new banking head roles named across Asia-Pacific, only two went to women — Hajrah Sakauloo, chief executive officer and head of banking for Mauritius, and Priya Kini, who oversees seven smaller markets including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. At HSBC’s priority markets of Singapore, China and India, the top banking jobs all went to men, while in most of the smaller markets, the incumbent country head, mostly male, got the banking role.
Some of the appointments came as a surprise and are being discussed internally among staff, other people said. The restructuring and lack of detailed public reporting from HSBC on the gender balance in senior Asia roles within the division make it difficult to compare the current mix to the one pre-shakeup.
Summary: HSBC’s restructuring requires managers to reapply for senior roles, resulting in women securing only 2 out of 15 key leadership positions, raising diversity concerns.