HSBC Holdings today announced changes to its board of directors, including the departure of two of its longest serving non-executive directors, and the appointment of two new independent non-executive directors.

Rona Fairhead will retire at the 2016 Annual General Meeting. Sir Simon Robertson, deputy chairman, will also retire at the same time, and Safra Catz will stand down at the end of 2015. Fairhead will hand over her responsibilities as chair of HSBC North America Holdings to Heidi Miller at the end of 2015. Fairhead and Robertson are HSBC’s longest serving non-executive cirectors, having served for close to 12 and 10 years, respectively, while Catz has served on the board for nearly eight years.

The board also has announced the appointments of Henri de Castries and Paul Walsh as independent non-executive directors. de Castries has more than 25 years of international experience in the finance industry. He has been chair and CEO of AXA, a global insurance and asset management company since April 2010, after having served as chair of the AXA management board since May 2000.

Walsh was group CEO of global alcoholic beverage company Diageo between 2000 and 2013. He is currently chairman of Compass Group and Avanti Communications Group and is a non-executive director of FedEx.

These appointments will take effect from March 1, 2016 and Jan. 1, 2016, respectively. Once these changes are in effect, the board will comprise 14 independent non-executive directors together with the three executive directors and the full-time chairman. These appointments will be for an initial three-year term which, subject to re-election by shareholders, will expire at the conclusion of the 2019 Annual General Meeting.

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