HSBC has made history by appointing Pam Kaur as its chief financial officer, marking the first time a woman has held this position in the bank’s 160-year history. Kaur, who is of Indian origin and holds an MBA from Panjab University in India, joins a growing roster of women in senior global banking roles.
Who Is Pam Kaur?
At 60 years old, Pam Kaur joined HSBC in April 2013 from Deutsche Bank. She initially served as the group chief risk and compliance officer before being promoted to CFO. Her previous experience includes senior risk and audit roles at Citi, Lloyds Banking Group, and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Kaur identifies herself on LinkedIn as a “passionate supporter of diversity and inclusion.” She is also a global sponsor for HSBC’s Embrace employee network, which aims to attract, retain, and engage a more diverse ethnic and multicultural workforce among the bank’s 225,000 employees worldwide.
With her extensive experience, Kaur is expected to play a crucial role in shaping HSBC’s future and assisting newly-appointed CEO Elhededery in steering client-facing activities. Elhededery stated that the recent reorganization aims to unlock the lender’s full potential.
As CFO, Kaur will address immediate challenges and advocate for efforts to reduce the bank’s gender pay gap.
Despite multi-billion-dollar share buyback programs and consistent dividend growth, HSBC shares have underperformed compared to peers this year, rising only 7% against a 20% increase in the European index.