Who Is Indian-Origin Pam Kaur, HSBC's 1st Female CFO In 160-Year History

HSBC Bank has named Indian-origin Pam Kaur as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the first woman to hold this position in its 160-year history. She is replacing Georges Elhedery, who took over as CEO earlier this year.

In a press release, HSBC Bank said that Pam Kaur will also serve as the Executive Director of the Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2025.

At 60, Ms Kaur has nearly four decades of banking experience, focusing on auditing, risk management and compliance.

Who is Pam Kaur?

1. Pam Kaur qualified as a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young and began her career in internal audit at Citibank. She joined HSBC in April 2013 as Group Head of Internal Audit and became the Group Chief Risk Officer in January 2020, taking on the responsibility for Compliance in June 2021.

2. She holds an MBA in Finance and a BCom (Hons) from Panjab University in Chandigarh. She is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

3. Pam Kaur has held several senior positions at major global financial institutions. Her former roles include Global Head of Group Audit for Deutsche Bank, CFO and COO of the Restructuring and Risk Division at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Group Head of Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering at Lloyds TSB. She also served as Chief Compliance Officer at Citigroup International and Global Director of Compliance for Citigroup's Global Consumer Group. She currently acts as a non-executive Director of Abrdn PLC.

4. As CFO, Pam Kaur will earn an annual base salary of £803,000 (Rs 8.3 crore), a fixed pay allowance of £1,085,000 (Rs 8.7 crore), and a pension allowance of £80,300 (Rs 64 lakh). She is also eligible for discretionary variable pay, including an annual incentive award of up to 215 per cent of her base salary and a long-term incentive award of up to 320 per cent of her base salary.

5. Pam Kaur joined HSBC shortly after the bank faced scrutiny for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, leading to a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Justice Department. Since then, she has significantly influenced the bank's risk management strategies, including her appointment in April 2019 as Head of Wholesale Market and Credit Risk and Chair of the enterprise-wide non-financial risk forum.