(FT) -- Michael Geoghegan, chief executive of HSBC, has threatened to resign from his job if he is not elevated to the chairman's role, according to two people familiar with the bank's succession planning.
At a meeting last week Mr Geoghegan reacted badly to the suggestion that he might be passed over, one of the people said. "He was told the board was not ready to give him the chairmanship and he was not happy".
HSBC is set to decide at a board meeting next Tuesday who should replace Stephen Green, who is stepping down as chairman at the end of the year to take up a UK government job as trade minister.
Executives at the bank said Mr Geoghegan would be unhappy to see another chairman appointed over the top of him, particularly the favourite for the job, ex-Goldman Sachs banker John Thornton. HSBC has a history of elevating its chief executive to chairman.
It remains unclear who the bank will ultimately pick for the role of chairman, with Douglas Flint, finance director, also in the running, according to bankers. Simon Robertson, the non-executive who is leading the succession process, has also been mooted as a solution, although that would almost certainly force him to give up his chairmanship of Rolls-Royce.
CNN
