Maia named CEO of HSBC Australia

HSBC has appointed Paulo Maia, currently Deputy CEO of HSBC Brazil, as CEO of HSBC Bank Australia. The new appointment will come into effect on 1 July 2009. Paulo Maia replaces Stuart Davis, who has been appointed CEO of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in India.

Maia has more than 25 years of banking experience spanning Brazil, Great Britain and the United States across the retail, commercial and corporate banking sectors.

He first joined HSBC in 1993 when he worked in the representative office in São Paulo as Director Corporate Finance and at the Group’s headquarters in London as Senior Manager Emerging Markets. In 1997, Mr Maia returned to Brazil from the UK as the HSBC Group acquired Banco Bamerindus do Brasil, where he took part in the acquisition process and the setting up of HSBC Bank Brazil. Before becoming Deputy CEO of HSBC Bank Brazil, a role he has held since April 2008, he headed both HSBC’s Personal Financial Services and Commercial Banking operations in Brazil.

“HSBC has a clear business strategy to grow its presence in the Australian market and the success of this strategy to date is clear. HSBC in Australia achieved excellent results in 2008 despite market turbulence, increasing its pre-tax profit by 42 percent to US$176 million. Paulo Maia will continue to grow HSBC’s business in Australia, focusing on new and existing business opportunities within Personal Financial Services, Commercial Banking and Global Banking and Markets where the HSBC Group’s global size and on-the-ground presence provide us with a natural advantage in this market,” said Sandy Flockhart, CEO of HSBC Asia Pacific.