In this new role, which will be based in Hong Kong, Williams will be responsible for leading the development of retail wealth management business capabilities in key markets for the HSBC Group.
Williams is currently chairman and CEO of Camelot Financial Capital Management, a US-based investment group.
Williams said HSBC’s positioning in important markets and the strength of its brand is a powerful combination, and he looks forward to playing his part in realizing the potential this represents.
Prior to this he was a senior executive at Citigroup, where he held various roles during his career including CEO of Citibank International Retail Bank and chief risk officer for Citigroup Global Consumer Group. He has also held senior management roles at GE Capital, Bain & Co and PwC.
He will report to Paul Thurston, HSBC’s CEO for Retail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM).
Thurston said Simon brings to HSBC a breadth of business and international experience, in both emerging and developed markets, which will help the company build on its existing strengths, and deliver world-class wealth management solutions for their customers.
In a strategy note sent out by the bank to its investors last month, HSBC said that the development of retail wealth management capabilities as a key strategic action for the group.
With presences in mature markets where there are already large concentrations of wealth, and in markets such as mainland China, India and Brazil where wealth has shown compound annual growth rates of around 20% or more over the last 10 years, HSBC believes that there is an opportunity for it to capture $4bn in additional revenues from retail wealth management in the medium-term.
