Sir William "Willie" Purves, (, born 27 December 1931) was a Scottish banker until his retirement in 1998. He was the first Group Chairman of

HSBC Holdings 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 ...

following the creation of a holding company to act as parent to

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

and the

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

following the former's acquisition of Midland in 1992.

Biography

Born in Kelso,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, Purves attended Kelso High School before commenced training with The

National Bank of Scotland The National Bank of Scotland was founded as a joint stock bank in 1825. Based in Edinburgh, it had established a network of 137 branches at the end of its first hundred years. In 1918 the bank was bought by Lloyds Bank, although it continued ...

(now

The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) ...

) in 1948. This was interrupted by National Service in Korea, during which time he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

(DSO) – the only National Service officer to have won this honour. He rejoined banking in 1954 and moved to

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 ...

to join The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, where he remained for the rest of his working life. In 1986, he became Chairman and CEO of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and was appointed Chairman in 1991 prior to the formation of HSBC Holdings, and as such oversaw the purchase and integration of Midland Bank. He retired in 1998. Knighted in 1993 and awarded the

Grand Bauhinia Medal The Grand Bauhinia Medal () is the highest award under the Hong Kong honours and awards system; it is to recognise the selected person's lifelong and highly significant contribution to the well-being of Hong Kong. The awardee is entitled to the ...

by Hong Kong in 1999, he now lives in London and Oxfordshire. He is married to Lady Purves, and has four children and nine grandchildren by his first wife, Diana Purves.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purves, William 1931 births Living people Scottish bankers Scottish expatriates in Hong Kong Hong Kong chief executives Chairmen of HSBC Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Scottish military personnel Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong People from Kelso, Scottish Borders Scottish chairpersons of corporations People educated at Kelso High School, Scotland Knights Bachelor British Army personnel of the Korean War

Biography

See also

References