What have been your main challenges since you took up your current role?
The 30 legal departments within HSBC report primarily to their country heads and functionally to myself. While I had the advantage of knowing the HSBC Group [when I took up the post], there was a considerable challenge in deciding how best to collectively manage the legal function, which now comprises 345 lawyers, and to utilise knowledge and experience from one jurisdiction to another. From an operational perspective, keeping up with the day-to-day legal and compliance issues affecting HSBC is a major challenge, especially with today’s speed of communication.
What will be your main challenges in the coming year?
I wish I had a crystal ball to know what challenges will affect a global organisation such as HSBC. There will almost certainly be litigation, regulatory change and maybe HSBC will make a major acquisition. I doubt that I will be bored or have nothing to do.
