New Head of Personal Financial Services for HSBC

Notes and media contacts

Media enquiries to Steve Martin, Regional Manager Corporate Affairs on tel 5077465

1. Nik Cherrill
Mr Cherrill joined The British Bank of the Middle East (later HSBC Bank Middle East) in London in March 1972.

His first overseas posting was in Muscat Oman in 1973. Subsequent early appointments included Yemen and Qatar, and Khor Fakkan in the UAE. He has worked twice in Geneva, Switzerland, with responsibility for the Middle East, the second time in 1988 when he was Deputy CEO for the Bank's private banking operations. He was Managing Director of MEFCO in UAE from 1990 to 1992.

He has worked in Hong Kong where he was involved in the development of the Group's electronic banking delivery system Hexagon, and later as Managing Director of HSBC International Trustee Company. In Singapore he established and ran HSBC's Private Banking operation for all ASEAN countries.

Mr Cherrill served as Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Pakistan from 1995 to 99, and subsequently was appointed Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Sri Lanka from 1999 to his current appointment.

2. HSBC Bank Middle East
HSBC Bank Middle East is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East with 31 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Autonomous Area including an offshore banking unit in Bahrain. This extensive regional coverage is strengthened by another member of the HSBC Group, HSBC Bank Egypt, and by its associate companies, The Saudi British Bank and the British Arab Commercial Bank. In addition to its Middle Eastern network, the Bank has a branch in London, UK, and a representative office in Tehran, Iran.

3. HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Bank Middle East is a principal member of the HSBC Group which, with some 7,000 offices in 81 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa and US$ 696 billion in assets as at 31 December 2001, is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.