HSBC Holdings Plc staff in Hong Kong are about to see a lot more of Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery as he prepares to move temporarily to the city early next year.

The lender’s London-based boss plans to spend the early months of 2026 working out of Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Elhedery’s temporary relocation is part of an effort to cut down on a hectic travel schedule that requires him to fly out to Asia several times a year, the people said. It also comes as HSBC closes in on its $14 billion deal to take over Hang Seng Bank Ltd in the coming months, in what is set to be the lender’s biggest acquisition since the early 2000s.

He is expected to be based in Asia for about three months with a view to moving back to Europe before the summer, according to the people. One person familiar with the plan said the hope was that moving to Hong Kong for a few months would allow Elhedery to spend more time visiting the bank’s Asian operations and lighten his travel schedule for the rest of the year.

“The Group CEO is based in the UK,” a spokesperson for HSBC said. “He frequently spends time with customers and colleagues in Hong Kong, as well as the other markets we serve.”

Asia pivot

It’ll be the first time a CEO of HSBC has been based in Asia — even temporarily — in more than a decade. The last boss of the bank to be based in the region was Michael Geoghegan, who announced in September 2009 that he would switch from London to Hong Kong.

Geoghegan’s decision marked the first full-time return of the bank’s CEO to Hong Kong since it transferred its headquarters from the territory to London as a condition of it being allowed to buy the Midland Bank in the early 1990s. After Geoghegan stepped down as CEO, successor Stuart Gulliver opted to move the role back to the UK.

HSBC has shifted the running of several of its major businesses to Hong Kong in recent years as it embarked on its Asia pivot strategy. Back in 2021, the company relocated various senior executives to the city.

ALSO READ: HSBC lifts full-year outlook despite hit from Madoff case

It means that while HSBC’s CEO and its chief financial officer have remained in London, several of the bank’s top executives — responsible for running businesses accounting for much of its revenue — have been based 6,000 miles away.

British authorities have generally insisted that key executives and bank officials must live in the UK, but it has granted exceptions. HSBC’s recently departed chairman, Mark Tucker, had to relocate from Hong Kong to London as a condition of taking the job in 2017 but was subsequently allowed to move to New York.