FirstFT: Quinn to step down after 5 years at the top of HSBC

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Good morning. HSBC’s chief executive Noel Quinn is to retire unexpectedly after five years, setting off a hunt for a successor at the UK-based bank.

Quinn, 62, has overhauled the lender since taking charge, selling off parts of its global operations to increase its focus on Asia, where it makes the lion’s share of its profits.

The bank’s board said it had begun a formal process to find a successor and is considering internal and external candidates. The process is expected to be completed by the second half of this year, said chair Mark Tucker.

During his five years as chief executive, Quinn embarked on an extensive restructuring of the lender, cutting 35,000 jobs and pledging to slash annual costs by $4.5bn. He also saw off a challenge from HSBC’s largest shareholder Ping An to carve out its Asia business. Here’s more on Quinn’s legacy, the search for his replacement and the bank’s first-quarter results.

• Lex: Quinn’s successor will take the reins at a challenging time, says our investment column (premium subscribers only).

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The Case-Shiller index’s 20-city composite is expected to show home prices rose 6.7 per cent annually in February, up from 6.6 per cent in January. The Conference Board also releases its latest consumer confidence index. We also get inflation from Colombia and Brazil’s statistics agency IBGE publishes producer price data relative to March and Mexico’s statistics agency INEGI publishes preliminary growth figures for the first quarter.

• Monetary policy: Colombia’s central bank board votes on the country’s benchmark interest rate.

• Companies: Amazon is the latest big tech group to report earnings as well as a raft of consumer goods groups, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Restaurant Brands and Molson Coors, Starbucks and Mondelez.

• Binance: Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is sentenced after pleading guilty to violating US money laundering rules.

• Hostage talks: Hopes are growing for a deal between Hamas and Israel that would secure the release of some of the captives in Gaza. Here’s more on the shape of the deal that is on the table. US secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to visit Israel on the latest leg of his trip to the region.

Five more top stories

1. The French and Spanish economies grew faster than forecast in the first quarter on a rebound in domestic consumption and investment. The rebound in activity came as inflation’s recent decline stalled in several of the eurozone’s larger members. France on Tuesday reported higher consumer price growth than expected of 2.4 per cent in April, following similarly above-forecast inflation figures of 3.4 per cent for Spain and 2.4 per cent for Germany. The euro strengthened against the dollar after the release of the latest eurozone data.

2. Apple has poached dozens of artificial intelligence experts from Google and has created a secretive European laboratory in Zurich, as the tech giant builds a team to battle rivals in developing new AI models and products. The iPhone maker has attracted at least 36 specialists from its rival Google since it poached John Giannandrea to be its top AI executive in 2018. The secret lab, known as “Vision Lab”, has researched the underlying technology powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

3. WeWork’s senior creditors are poised to take control of the reorganised co-working space provider after agreeing to invest a fresh $450mn, in effect ending Adam Neumann’s attempt to purchase the company he founded. A federal bankruptcy court judge in New Jersey yesterday approved the outline of the deal. Creditors will vote on May 30 whether to approve the restructuring plan. Here’s more on the creditors and the deal they have proposed.

• More property news: Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s property company, which owns big parts of London’s Mayfair and Belgravia, is planning to more than double its flexible office footprint.

4. Larry Ellison-backed Skydance has sweetened its offer to take control of Paramount by injecting extra cash to win support for a complex merger that has frustrated investors and led to the departure of the Hollywood group’s chief executive, Bob Bakish. The Skydance offer includes about $2bn to take control of National Amusements, the Shari Redstone-controlled group that holds nearly 80 per cent of Paramount’s voting shares. Read the full story.

5. California has taken a first step to push down pharmaceutical prices in the US state, striking a deal with the maker of a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses to purchase the medicine at a large discount and then distribute it under its own brand. Governor Gavin Newsom said California was using its market power as the world’s fifth-largest economy to push down drug prices through a programme it calls CalRx. “California is disrupting the drug industry,” Newsom said yesterday.

The Big Read

Javier Milei’s sister, Karina, has not only become the gatekeeper of her brother’s presidential agenda, she is also a political general, holding the reins of his party and choosing staff for senior roles in government and the legislature. The growing influence the former baker and tarot card reader — who only entered politics in 2021 — has raised eyebrows among politicians and business leaders. Ciara Nugent profiles the woman who has become known as “the boss” of Argentine politics.

We’re also reading . . . 

• US politics: For the first time in US history, one in seven eligible voters in this year’s presidential election will be Latino and that could make all the difference, writes Patti Waldmeir, in swing states like Wisconsin.

• Tesla: What does Elon Musk’s China trip mean for the electric-car maker? Edward White in Beijing and global motoring industry correspondent Peter Campbell explain.

• Japan: People, money and trade are turning to Japan, but a short-term opportunity may become a long-term problem, writes Gideon Rachman.

Chart of the day

After a weak start to the year, the Hang Seng index entered a technical bull market yesterday, touching a level 20 per cent above its January low, with an influx from international funds improving liquidity. Sentiment has shifted on Chinese equities, with foreign investors starting to chase lower-valued, high dividend Hong Kong-listed shares. The Hang Seng is on course to become April’s best-performing major index.

Take a break from the news

International chess could be heading for an Indian era to match the Soviet Union’s dominance of the 20th century. Gukesh Dommaraju’s victory in last week’s Candidates tournament in Toronto has the potential to spark a boom in a nation where, in its Chennai and Tamil Nadu heartland, the indoor game is already a credible rival to cricket.  

Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm