, Columnist
In Tucker, HSBC Gets Mr. Right
Being the newbie in an institution that's renowned for cultivating inside talent will pose some challenges.
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In selecting AIA Group Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer Mark Tucker as its new chairman, HSBC Holdings Plc has gotten the right guy. Let's hope the bank's rather insular culture gets him.
To understand why HSBC has gone outside its fold for the first time in its 152-year history, take a look at AIA's profitability. The insurer's stock has more than doubled since American International Group Inc. spun it off in 2010, a few months after Tucker, the former head of Prudential Plc, joined. Although the two companies share an Asia focus, earnings at AIA have surged while London-headquartered HSBC, grappling with low interest rates and legal wranglings, has seen its return on equity fall to well below banks' 10 percent theoretical cost of capital.