Greg Hingston, who took over as global chief executive of HSBC Holdings Plc’s insurance unit in January, has had a busy quarter, closing the group’s first acquisition in a decade, building out the China business and eyeing new deals to be struck.
The 15-year HSBC veteran stepped in after the bank late last year won regulatory approval to take full control of its Chinese life insurance venture, a welcome sign of a thaw in the bank’s recent frosty relationship with Beijing. The lender is expanding in Asia with billions of dollars in fresh investments and in February completed its purchase of AXA SA’s Singapore unit, a deal which effectively doubled the size of its insurance business in the city state.
