The Men At The Top: Douglas Flint
Douglas Flint is one of the first top men that I’ve come across without his own Wikipedia profile – not that this makes a difference (in fact, it may even be a strength).From his HSBC CV, he was born in Scotland in July 1955, carrying on the tradition of HSBC having Scots at its head.
HSBC tells us that he was educated at Glasgow University where he gained a B.Acc (Hons) degree. He also completed the PMD course at Harvard Business School in 1983. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Association of Corporate Treasurers. He is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
Flint began his accounting career with what is now known as KPMG where he qualified as an accountant. In 1988, he made partner. His specialities were banking, multinational financial reporting, treasury and securities trading operations, group re-organisations and litigation support. He joined the HSBC Group as Group Finance Director-Designate in September 1995 and was appointed to the Board on 1 December 1995.
In June 2006 he was honoured with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by the Queen in recognition of his services to the finance industry.
In a recent article on the succession to the Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive position, Flint was described as “A good man going nowhere” – David Buik - (how things change!). From other information, though, he is clearly respected by regulators – important as the financial services industry extracts itself from its current mire. He’s been involved with and/or led a number of high-profile committees and panels, e.g.:
• Chaired the Financial Reporting Council’s review of the Turnbull Guidance on Internal Control 2004-2005;
• Co-chaired the Group of Thirty report on Enhancing Public Confidence in Financial Reporting;
• Served on The Accounting Standards Board and the Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board from 2001-2004;
• Served on The Shipley Working Group on Public Disclosure.
The above have brought him a number of high-profile connections Mr Flint, 55, in contrast to Mr Geoghegan's reputation for hot-headedness, is seen as a safe pair of hands for a bank that while one of the financial crisis's great survivors, also faces numerous threats to its business model from regulators around the world.
One of Flint’s tasks was to sort out Household Finance Corporate at the very start of the subprime crisis. This succeeded in enhancing HSBC’s reputation, despite the heavy write-offs that it suffered. According to the London Evening Standard, this resulted in his being “consulted by government as the planning for the bailouts began in earnest” (24 September 2010). Although The Observer commented in September that this hasn’t helped his CV, one has to point out where he’s ended up…
As a recognised expert in the highly technical area of financial regulation, Flint's move to the top is a clue as to the importance to HSBC of having someone with connections in the right regulatory places.
He is said to be a strong believer in teamwork and that is people who make an organisation. No doubt, this networking ability will help overt the next few years.
In terms of remuneration, he receives a rise from £700,000 a year to approximately £1.25million. His shares in HSBC are reportedly worth £6million. Despite this, He’s a far cry from the “flashy banker” of the type vilified by the likes of Vince Cable and the popular press. This may well have served to endear him among “traditionalists” at HSBC and elsewhere. He is seen as a “safe pair of hands”.
Flint was seen as a chairman-in-waiting (he was tipped for Eric Daniels’ job at Lloyds Banking Group) but not at HSBC. He has been there some 15 years and is seen by some as too close to bring the independent view that bank shareholders need. However, he has been accepted by The City. There are those that say that HSBC continues to defy corporate governance best practice by continuing to promote their Chairmen from within, but given the size and complexity of the group, it is just as (if not more) risky to have a rank outsider. Flint is balanced by a large and diverse board, although it looks as though he will not keep John Thornton – a renowned China expert who was passed over for his job.
The years ahead will be challenging as the global financial services industry regroups and rethinks its strategy. Flint, given his experience and connections, is the right person to keep HSBC on the road to growth.
Labels: Career, Financial, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 19:25
2 Comments:
Has HSBC Bank breached it's defence lending policy?
HSBC Bank Public Interest Disclosure - Defence Policy Breach? Lack of transparency or shareholder decepton?What do you think? Hellfire Trident D5 Missiles....
As a matter of public interest, I Andrew Botte as an employee of HSBC Bank (HSBC Holdings Plc), wish to inform the media / public that I did on the 27th of April 2011 at 1.43pm, make what I deem to be a 'good faith' protected disclosure to HSBC Group Chairman Douglas Flint by email.
Within my email I stated my concern for the Bank's reputation, in that I believed the Bank's lending / defence policy & procedure may have been breached, concerning a HSBC Bank led (sole arranger) US revolving credit facility (USD 900 Million), of which HSBC Bank holds 120 Million USD, as part of a syndicate credit facility provided to a US based company.
I would like to stress at no point did my concern extend to the company in question or any wrong doing on their part. The US company in question is a perfectly successful and legitimate business - my concern was based around should we have lent? And had internal policy or procedure been breached?
The company in question is a global designer, manufacturer and integrator of high performance precision motion and fluid controls and systems for the aerospace, defence, industrial and medical markets.
I went on to suggest the Group Chairman may like to take a closer look at the company's website, to gain a better understanding of what the company was involved in producing, and the projects it had worked on.
The information which led to my disclosure was in open, unrestricted circulation on HSBC's intranet facility, and I had come by the information whilst researching a particular commercial job vacancy within the Bank. Once discovered I reported the information in good faith immediately. This eventually led to me exchanging several emails and phone calls on the matter.
The US company in question participate in many missile programs including the following:
1. Exoatmospheric kill vehicle
2. Hellfire
3. Joint air to ground missiles
4. Joint common missiles
5. Maverick
6. Multiple kill vehicles
7. Non-line of sight launch systems
8. Trident D5 (submarine launched ballistic missile armed with a nuclear warhead)
In their own company literature they state 'Our products play a critical role in the mission success of a weapon system'.
My concerns for the Bank also include(d):
1. Did anyone check the list of ultimate clients and the destinations where
their systems are being used?
2. How would this type of lending be seen by stake holders / wider public?
3. Was a restrictive covenant put in place to limit what our funding could be used for?
4. The transparency of our defence policy statement.
In making my disclosure it was, and still is my firm belief that by arranging the facility to a company that produces controls and actuators etc that are used in many military applications including missile, ground launch vehicles, and defence aircraft, that HSBC Bank has acted contra to the spirit and word of it's published defence policy statement, (in particular it's Other Weapons Section) issued to it's shareholders, and the wider public. This policy is freely available on the internet.
It was with a spirit of honesty, and a sense of doing the right thing that I made my initial disclosure, and why I reinforce it now with this public interest disclosure. Given recent emails sent by John Sheridan (Head of HR - HSBC Bank) I felt it best for all parties in the long run, to make this public disclosure to ensure the matter receives thorough and fair review.
I was very shocked and surprised to be told in an early phone call made to me by John Laidlow (Group Corporate Sustainability), that 'as such HSBC Bank have no ethical policy such as the likes of the Co-operative Bank'.
Andrew,
What you say may be more appropriately addressed through HSBC's internal compliance channels. It is difficult to comment on this case, particularly in view of the lack of detailed information on this case.
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