COO d’etat at the bank
When HSBC acquired the UK arm of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank last year, boss Noel Quinn talked up the importance of preserving its operational independence. The firm would keep its own separate office across town and staff would not be ferried into Canary Wharf. “It’s a unit we purchased and we want to keep it with a separate identity and separate purpose,” Quinn told the Standard.
But a year on, there are signs things are changing. This week, Chief Operating Officer Patrick Flynn was ousted from the board on what is now called HSBC Innovation Banking and removed as a director of the company…curiously though, he remains COO. HSBC said the move was made because COOs don’t sit on the boards of its other subsidiaries, so the bank had to fall into line. How innovative.
Spy asked to speak to Mr Flynn, but he didn’t reply.
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