Stephen Green (Banker)

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

Lord Stephen Green is the former group chairman of HSBC Holdings who became UK Minister of State for trade and investment in both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 11 January 2011. He retired from this position in December 2013.

In March 2014 Green was appointed chairman of TheCityUK's Advisory Council, and took up the role from June 2014, replacing Sir Win Bischoff. However he resigned from this role on 13 February 2015, a week after further details emerged in the international press about the business activities of HSBC's Geneva subsidiary during his years as group chairman.

In October 2014 Lord Green accepted the unpaid, part-time role of Chairman of the International Advisory Board for the British Chambers of Commerce.

In June 2015 Green was granted permission by ACOBA to take up a role as a member of the steering committee at the Centre for Financial Excellence, Sabanci University.

Green is also a Church of England vicar.

HSBC years

Green was chairman of the HSBC Group form 2006 to 2010 and CEO of the same group from 2003 to 2006.

Egyptian deals

While chairman of HSBC, Green, a Church of England lay preacher, pursued business links with senior figures in the Egyptian regime. In 1998, he co-chaired the Egyptian British Business Council, a high-level group that reported to then British and Egyptian prime ministers Tony Blair and Kamal Ganzouri.

Roles

Was chair of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA.

Payoff

Thanks to a special scheme arranged by HSBC, Green avoided a tax charge of up to £2.3 million on his £5.8 million pension pot.

Joining the Coalition Government

In September 2010, after 28 years working for HSBC it was announced that Green would join the UK's Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government in early 2011 as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment in an unpaid capacity. He stepped down as Group Chairman of HSBC on 3 December 2010 and was replaced by Douglas Flint. To enable him to be accountable to Parliament, he was created a life peer on 16 November 2010 as Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint, of Hurstpierpoint in the County of West Sussex, and was introduced in the House of Lords on 22 November.

Prime Minister David Cameron said of the appointment,

This role reflects the enormous importance this Government places on forging strong international relationships to open new trade links, promote British business overseas and maximise inward investment to the UK.

Business 20 proposal

At the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Green proposed that a "Business 20" forum be set up, designed to mirror the G20 group of the world's leading economies. It would, however, be made up of big international companies, rather than governments.

Lobbying roles

• Former chairman of the British Bankers' Association
• Board member and UK representative on the European Banking Federation

Meetings with lobbyists

In July 2013 new government figures showed that Green had met with individuals from Brunswick and Montrose Public Affairs Consultants lobbying agencies.

Matching-making 'business buddies'

In November 2011 under Lord Green's watch, trade promotion body UKTI announced that key ministers would be paired with a range of top exporters and inward investors to make sure that special companies are well looked after at Whitehall.

Green himself was named as buddy to over ten companies, including key defence and nuclear interests: Siemens, DP World, GE, Diageo, Bombardier, EADS, BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Cheung Kong, BT, Vodafone.

Affiliations

• BASF - non-executive director

External references

• Nick Mathiason, HSBC under fire over leading role in land deals for Mubarak regime, Guardian 01 May 2011, accessed 08 October 2012.
• Richard Murphy, Stephen Green: Britain’s biggest provider of corruption services?, TaxResearch UK blog, 2 March 2008