HSBC appoints interim chair Brendan Nelson to permanent role

Brendan Nelson. The role of HSBC chair has become increasingly politicised at a time of simmering tensions between the west and China. Photograph: Charlie Best/HSBC

HSBC has appointed the former KPMG partner Brendan Nelson as its chair after a prolonged search process that left one of the world’s biggest banks without a permanent executive in the top role for months.

The decision to appoint Nelson, who has been serving as interim chair, came as a surprise, after a protracted hunt for a permanent successor for Mark Tucker which involved courting external candidates including the former chancellor George Osborne and the head of Goldman Sachs’s Asia-Pacific division, Kevin Sneader.