TEARING UP TRADITION?
Tucker, who a former colleague previously told Reuters honed his competitive instincts during an early career as a professional soccer player and celebrated his 50th birthday with a broken nose and two black eyes from a clash on the pitch, appears to have ripped up HSBC's internal succession manual.
The change bears the imprint of the decisive, hard-charging Tucker and the next question for investors is whether he abandons tradition at HSBC, which has long relied on carefully-managed succession plans, and picks an outsider as CEO.
"We are surprised to learn about the change given Flint's short tenure as CEO, and did not think he was doing a bad job," said Jonathan Rawicz, Lead Portfolio Manager of the New Capital Dynamic UK Equity Fund at EFG Asset Management.
Rather than being risky, the change could show how seriously Tucker is taking mounting political and economic headwinds.
"It is already a break from the past with what's happened today, so if there was ever going to be an external person perhaps this is it," said Eric Moore, fund manager at Miton Asset Management, another small shareholder in HSBC.
