Who is Pam Kaur? First Female CFO in the History of 160 years in HSBC

Pam Kaur has made history by becoming HSBC's first female Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the bank's 160-year existence. At 60 years old, Kaur will officially assume her new role on January 1, 2025, succeeding interim CFO Jon Bingham following the transition of Georges Elhedery to CEO earlier this year.

Career Background

HSBC Tenure: Kaur joined HSBC in April 2013 as the Group Head of Internal Audit. Over the past decade, she has held several key positions, including:

• Group Chief Risk Officer: Appointed in January 2020.
• Chief Risk and Compliance Officer: Took on compliance oversight in June 2021.
• Head of Wholesale Market and Credit Risk: Promoted to this role in April 2019.

Previous Experience: Before her time at HSBC, Kaur held significant roles at major financial institutions:

• Global Head of Group Audit at Deutsche Bank.
• CFO and COO of the Restructuring and Risk Division at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
• Group Head of Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering at Lloyds TSB.

Educational Background

Kaur has an MBA in Finance from the University of Leeds and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Panjab University in India. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which shows very clearly that she has first-class academic credentials and professional qualifications.

Vision and Future Plans

It is when the restructuring of HSBC is finally understood to be in a much-needed effort to simplify operations into four key business units that Kaur is appointed. While it signals a strategic shift for the bank, this is indeed driven more by opportunities for growth, particularly in Asia, and spells a new role she will take on, which is expected to take effect simultaneously with the change.

However, Kaur has extensive experience and leadership within HSBC, making her a key player in such a transition, particularly with the evolving financial scenario in today's technologically and geopolitically driven era.

Pam Kaur has also achieved significant milestones during her tenure at HSBC, contributing to the bank's strategic direction and risk management framework. Here are some of her key achievements:

• Leadership Positions: Kaur joined HSBC as Group Head of Internal Audit on 1 April 2013. Since then, she has held several senior roles. She became the Group Chief Risk Officer in January 2020 and, since June 202112, also covers Compliance.
• Risk Management Initiative: Kaur served as Head of Wholesale Market and Credit Risk and spearheaded the initiative for the setting up of an enterprise-wide non-financial risk forum in April 2019. This was an enhancement of the risk management capability of the bank across its global operations.
• Executive Committee Membership: For more than a decade, Kaur has been a member of the Group Executive Committee at HSBC, which grants her the opportunity to shape the very highest level of bank strategy and operations in line with the bank's policy.
• Global-View: Kaur comes with a rich 40 years of experience in the financial sector and has earlier worked with the likes of Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, so she is well equipped with the best practices of global banking as well as regulatory systems that have very much moulded HSBC's compliance and risk management.
• Cultural Meaning: With the first female CFO appointed to join in January 2025, Kaur has been appointed to position the bank in a particular direction culturally, showing that at the top-most level of its management, diversity and inclusion exist.
• Strategic Re-engineering: Her timing in restructuring HSBC into four distinct business units is proof of how important she is in guiding the bank to this change and sustaining its operations amidst all the external challenges.

This will further power the growth curve of HSBC as Kaur takes over her new position as CFO as she is experienced and comfortable with leadership.