When a handful of Hong Kong journalists dialled in to a media call with HSBC bosses in February, Georges Elhedery took them by surprise. In a momentary distraction from the bank’s 80% drop in annual profits, the chief financial officer issued greetings in Mandarin.
It put Elhedery’s newly acquired language skills – built up during a six-month sabbatical in 2022 – to a public test. But it also demonstrated his ambition: notably, that he would not let a relative lack of experience in China, where the bank makes the bulk of its profits, get in the way of his ascent at HSBC.
