Elhedery

Georges Elhedery was born circa 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon, and grew up during the Lebanese Civil War. A French national, he earned a degree in engineering at the École Polytechnique in Paris, followed by a postgraduate degree in statistics and economics from the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique. His father was a banker, and his mother a teacher.

Elhedery began his career in banking with Banque Paribas in Tokyo in 1997. He then worked for Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2005, before joining HSBC. Georges joined HSBC in 2005 with extensive trading experience in London, Paris and Tokyo. He has since held a number of senior leadership roles, including Head of Global Banking and Markets, Middle East and North Africa; Chief Executive Officer for HSBC, Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye; Global Head of Markets; and co-Chief Executive Officer, Global Banking and Markets based in London.

Career history

• Group Chief Executive Officer, HSBC (September 2024–present)
• Group Chief Financial Officer, HSBC (January 2023–September 2024)
• Co-Chief Executive Officer, Global Banking and Markets, HSBC
• Goldman Sachs (2001–2005)
• Banque Paribas, Tokyo (1997–2001)

Elhedery speaks fluent Arabic, French, English, German, Spanish, and is proficient in Japanese, and took a six-month sabbatical to learn Mandarin in 2022. He has almost 30 years of experience in the banking industry across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Following his appointment, Elhedery restructured HSBC into four units and refocused its investment banking on Asia. He is known for being "ruthless about killing complexity" as he pushes through an AI-fuelled overhaul of one of the world's biggest banks.

What Elhedery could bring to HSBC: His appointment represents continuity paired with transformational ambition. With deep expertise in global markets developed through decades across Tokyo, London, Paris, and the Gulf, combined with fluency in eight languages including Mandarin, Elhedery brings rare cross-cultural and cross-regional banking acumen. His track record in simplifying organizational complexity, his technical background in engineering and quantitative analysis, and his demonstrated ability to restructure divisions suggest he is well-positioned to modernize HSBC's operations, deepen Asia penetration, and navigate geopolitical challenges in an evolving global banking landscape.