Stuart Thomson Gulliver (born 9 March 1959) is a British banker, and the former group chief executive of

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. He was succeeded on 21 February 2018 by John Flint.

Early life and education

He was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, England, in 1959. His father Philip was a legal executive, while his mother Jean was personal assistant to the senior engineer at a local dockyard. Gulliver went to

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. Gulliver was an avid boxer while at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, where he received a degree in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

(law). In a 2011 interview to

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

, Gulliver recalls his humble upbringing and his childhood aspiration, and said: "I wanted to be a barrister, but my parents couldn’t afford it".

Professional career

Early career and HSBC (1980–2010)

In 1980, an HSBC executive serving in India urged him to join HSBC's elite international officer programme, as it was called at that time, which paved the way for his banking career. Gulliver worked his way up in treasury and capital markets divisions, rose through the ranks in the bank's Global banking and markets division, and held a number of key roles in the group's operations worldwide; including postings in London, Hong Kong,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Gulliver was appointed to run the Asian and treasury capital markets desks from Hong Kong in the mid 1990s. During the 1990s, Gulliver built HSBC's investment banking business in Hong Kong and turned HSBC's Asian markets business into one of the group's major money-spinners, even in the aftermath of the

Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltd ...

. He served as the head of

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

and

capital markets A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers t ...

in Asia-Pacific from 1996 to 2012. He was appointed a group general manager in 2000, and later he led the global markets division from 2002 to 2003. He moved back to London in early 2003 to co-head the group's global corporate, investment banking and markets division along with

John Studzinski John Joseph Paul Studzinski, CBE (born March 19, 1956) is an American-British investment banker and philanthropist. Since September 2018 he has been Managing Director and Vice Chairman of the global investment-management firm PIMCO. Prior to ...

. In March 2004, he joined the group management board as a group managing director. Upon the departure of John Studzinski in 2006, he was appointed chief executive of global banking and markets and HSBC Global Asset Management in May 2006. He was a director of HSBC North America Holdings Inc until May 2009; of HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd from February 2010 to May 2011; of HSBC Latin America Holdings (UK) Limited until December 2009. He is deputy chairman of the supervisory committee of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG (since September 2007; member since May 2006); non-executive chairman and a director of HSBC France since January 2009; and chairman of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA since February 2010 (Director since September 2007). He was made a director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in September 2006 and has been an executive director of HSBC Holdings plc since May 2008.

Group CEO of HSBC (2010–2018)

On 7 September 2010, Stephen Green, the then group chairman of HSBC, announced that he would step down, in order to accept the invitation of the UK Prime Minister to become Minister of State for Trade and Investment in January 2011. As a result of Stephen Green's decision to step down earlier than planned,

Michael Geoghegan Michael Francis Geoghegan CBE (born 4 October 1953) is an international banking business executive, who served as the chief executive (CEO) of HSBC from 26 March 2006 to 31 December 2010. He joined HSBC in 1973 and had previously led the group's ...

, the then group CEO of HSBC, announced his retirement and Stuart Gulliver, who led HSBC's investment-banking division since 2006, was appointed as the new Group CEO of HSBC Holdings plc, effective 1 January 2011. He was also appointed the chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. In 2011, he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of ''

Bloomberg Markets ''Bloomberg Markets'' is a magazine published six times a year by Bloomberg L.P. as part of Bloomberg News. Aimed at global financial professionals, ''Bloomberg Markets'' publishes articles on the people and issues related to global financial m ...

''. In 2014, he received a total of £7.6 million in pay and bonuses. In October 2017, it was announced that he will be succeeded in February 2018 by John Flint.

Personal life

His primary residence is in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

in West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he lives with his Australian-born second wife, Amanda "Mandy" Henricks. He has three children from his first marriage. He officially lives in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. A 2017 tax tribunal case shows HMRC agreed that by 2002/2003 Gulliver had become non-domiciled by establishing a domicile of choice in Hong Kong, despite having returned to be resident in the UK again, for what was intended to be a period of two years. In 2015, HMRC opened an enquiry into his domicile status, since he had in fact remained UK resident.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

newspaper reported that Gulliver was a client of the scandal-ridden Panamanian lawfirm Mossack Fonseca, investing bonus payments through them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulliver, Stuart Thomson 1959 births Living people Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford British chief executives of financial services companies English bankers English chief executives English financial businesspeople HSBC people British expatriates in Hong Kong People named in the Panama Papers