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Stephen Green (banker)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Keith Green, Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint (born 7 November 1948) is a British Conservative
politician the current Minister of State for Trade and Investment and former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc
. Green was educated at Lancing College
and Exeter College, Oxford
and received a master's degree
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
.
& Co Inc., management consultants, with whom he undertook assignments in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
He joined The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in 1982 with responsibility for corporate planning activities, and, in 1985, was put in charge of the development of the bank's global treasury operations. In 1992 he became Group Treasurer of HSBC Holdings plc, with responsibility for the HSBC Group's treasury and capital markets businesses globally.
In March 1998 Green was appointed to the Board of HSBC Holdings plc as Executive Director
, Investment Banking
and Markets responsible for the investment banking, private banking and asset management activities of the Group. He assumed additional responsibility for the Group's corporate banking business in May 2002. His appointment as Group Chief Executive took effect on 1 June 2003. Green oversaw the acquisition and integration of the U.S. consumer-finance group Household International, which represented HSBC's largest acquisition in a series of acquisitions made in the five years prior to Green's appointment as chief executive.
In January 2005, Green became Chairman of HSBC Bank plc
, the group's UK clearing bank subsidiary. On 28 November 2005, HSBC announced that he would become Group Executive Chairman when Sir John Bond
retired on 26 May 2006. In September 2010, it was announced he would join the UK's Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government
in early 2011 as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment
in an unpaid capacity. He stepped down as Group Chairman of HSBC on 3 December 2010 and was replaced by Douglas Flint. To enable him to be accountable to Parliament, he was created a life peer
on 16 November 2010 as Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint, of Hurstpierpoint in the County of West Sussex, and was introduced
in the House of Lords
on 22 November. He became Minister of State for Trade and Investment in both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
on 11 January 2011.
and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. He is also Chairman of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA
and HSBC North America Holdings Inc., Deputy Chairman of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG and is a board member of HSBC France.
Green is married to Janian and has two daughters, Ruth and Suzie. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England
, having studied at the Ming Hua Theological College whilst he was in Hong Kong
, and is the author of the book Serving God? Serving Mammon?. On the 7th July 2005 he was appointed a Trustee of the British Museum
.
Green has a sister called Elizabeth who lives in the USA and a brother, George Francis Green, who is Professor of Labour Economics and Skills Development at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Green himself was awarded an honorary doctor's degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2010.
Green on the banking industry:
"The industry has done many things wrong. It is important to remember that many ordinary bankers have always sought to provide good service to their customers; but we must also recognise that there have been too many who have profoundly damaged the industry's reputation."
"Underlying all these events is a question about the culture and ethics of the industry. It is as if, too often, people had given up asking whether something was the right thing to do, and focused only whether it was legal and complied with the rules. The industry needs to recover a sense of what is right and suitable as a key impulse for doing business."
McKinsey News (March 20, 2006) quoted Green saying this on making acquisitions: "We use four criteria when approaching acquisitions – financial value creation, client and product portfolio synergies, systems integration, and the fourth is ‘culture.’ We ask, ‘will the cultures mesh? Is there a good human fit in the way we do business?’ We consider this very seriously because we know that a cultural clash would be devastating for our shared ethos."
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician the current Minister of State for Trade and Investment and former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
. Green was educated at Lancing College
Lancing College
Lancing College is a co-educational English independent school in the British public school tradition, founded in 1848 by Nathaniel Woodard. Woodard's aim was to provide education "based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith." Lancing was the first of a...
and Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
and received a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
.
Career
Green began his career with the British Government's Ministry of Overseas Development. In 1977 he joined McKinseyMcKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
& Co Inc., management consultants, with whom he undertook assignments in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
He joined The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in 1982 with responsibility for corporate planning activities, and, in 1985, was put in charge of the development of the bank's global treasury operations. In 1992 he became Group Treasurer of HSBC Holdings plc, with responsibility for the HSBC Group's treasury and capital markets businesses globally.
In March 1998 Green was appointed to the Board of HSBC Holdings plc as Executive Director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
, Investment Banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
and Markets responsible for the investment banking, private banking and asset management activities of the Group. He assumed additional responsibility for the Group's corporate banking business in May 2002. His appointment as Group Chief Executive took effect on 1 June 2003. Green oversaw the acquisition and integration of the U.S. consumer-finance group Household International, which represented HSBC's largest acquisition in a series of acquisitions made in the five years prior to Green's appointment as chief executive.
In January 2005, Green became Chairman of HSBC Bank plc
HSBC Bank (Europe)
HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and...
, the group's UK clearing bank subsidiary. On 28 November 2005, HSBC announced that he would become Group Executive Chairman when Sir John Bond
John Bond (banker)
Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond retired as chairman of HSBC Holdings plc on 26 May 2006, after spending 45 years with the bank. He took up the position of Chairman of Vodafone in July 2006....
retired on 26 May 2006. In September 2010, it was announced he would join the UK's Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government
Cameron Ministry
David Cameron is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government after the resignation as Prime Minister of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010. Leading a coalition government formed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the coalition...
in early 2011 as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment
UK Trade & Investment
UK Trade & Investment is a UK Government department working with businesses based in the United Kingdom to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice ....
in an unpaid capacity. He stepped down as Group Chairman of HSBC on 3 December 2010 and was replaced by Douglas Flint. To enable him to be accountable to Parliament, he was created a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
on 16 November 2010 as Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint, of Hurstpierpoint in the County of West Sussex, and was introduced
Introduction (House of Lords)
Introduction is a ceremony in the House of Lords whereby new members are "introduced" to the existing membership. Introductions in the Lords are more elaborate than those in the House of Commons.-Origins:...
in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 22 November. He became Minister of State for Trade and Investment in both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...
and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
on 11 January 2011.
Other
Some of his other directorships include The Bank of Bermuda Limited, HSBC Mexico, SAHSBC Mexico
HSBC Mexico, S.A., the principal operating company of Group Financiero HSBC, S.A. de C.V., is one of Mexico’s four largest banking and financial service companies, with 1,400 branches and 5,200 ATMs. HSBC purchased Banco Internacional, S.A...
and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. He is also Chairman of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA
HSBC Private Bank
HSBC Private Bank is the principal private banking business of the HSBC Group. The HSBC Private Banking Group's holding company is HSBC Private Banking Holdings S.A....
and HSBC North America Holdings Inc., Deputy Chairman of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG and is a board member of HSBC France.
Green is married to Janian and has two daughters, Ruth and Suzie. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, having studied at the Ming Hua Theological College whilst he was in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and is the author of the book Serving God? Serving Mammon?. On the 7th July 2005 he was appointed a Trustee of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Green has a sister called Elizabeth who lives in the USA and a brother, George Francis Green, who is Professor of Labour Economics and Skills Development at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Green himself was awarded an honorary doctor's degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2010.
Quotes
"With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken," Stephen Green, HSBC's chairman, said, referring to HSBC's $15Bn acquisition of the sub-prime lender Household International in 2003.Green on the banking industry:
"The industry has done many things wrong. It is important to remember that many ordinary bankers have always sought to provide good service to their customers; but we must also recognise that there have been too many who have profoundly damaged the industry's reputation."
"Underlying all these events is a question about the culture and ethics of the industry. It is as if, too often, people had given up asking whether something was the right thing to do, and focused only whether it was legal and complied with the rules. The industry needs to recover a sense of what is right and suitable as a key impulse for doing business."
McKinsey News (March 20, 2006) quoted Green saying this on making acquisitions: "We use four criteria when approaching acquisitions – financial value creation, client and product portfolio synergies, systems integration, and the fourth is ‘culture.’ We ask, ‘will the cultures mesh? Is there a good human fit in the way we do business?’ We consider this very seriously because we know that a cultural clash would be devastating for our shared ethos."
External links
- Video: Stephen Green discusses his book 'Good Value' and the need for corporate social responsibility Asia Society New York, Feb. 17, 2010