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

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

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

Early life and education

He was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, 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 school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. Gulliver was an avid boxer while at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges 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 w ...

, where he received a degree in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

(law). In a 2011 interview to

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

, 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 (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. 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 Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

. He served as the head of

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

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 to ...

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

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 j ...

. 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 Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

and HSBC

Global Asset Management GAM Investments is an independent, pure play asset management group headquartered in Zurich.

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 HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...

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 The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pri ...

to become

Minister of State for Trade and Investment The Minister of State for Trade Policy is a mid-level role at the Department for International Trade in the Government of the United Kingdom. It is currently held by Greg Hands, who took the office on 9 October 2022. The minister deputizes for ...

in January 2011. As a result of Stephen Green's decision to step down earlier than planned,

Michael Geoghegan Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, 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

, a wholly owned subsidiary of

HSBC Holdings plc HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...

. 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 mar ...

''. 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 a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, 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 b ...

in West

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 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 ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. 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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

newspaper reported that Gulliver was a client of the scandal-ridden Panamanian lawfirm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and Corporate services, corporate service provider.1959 births Living people Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford English bankers English chief executives English financial businesspeople HSBC people British expatriates in Hong Kong People named in the Panama Papers