Douglas Flint, finance director of HSBC, is set to replace Stephen Green as chairman of Europe's biggest bank in a radical restructuring that will see chief executive Michael Geoghegan leave and his role taken up by Stuart Gulliver, the head of investment banking, media reports said.

The plan still has to be agreed by the HSBC board, which is due to meet in Shanghai next Wednesday.

The reshuffle was sparked by Green's decision to join the UK government as trade minister. Reports suggested that Geoghegan will leave the bank by the end of the year as part of the shake-up.

The plan, if confirmed, will mean HSBC has broken its tradition of handing its chairmanship to its current chief executive.

The bank's board had been split on the issue of who should replace Green and the decision to replace both him and Geoghegan follows days of speculation, including reports that Geoghegan had threatened to resign if not made chairman.

Those reports of Geoghegan's anger over the chairmanship were dismissed by HSBC earlier this week when contacted by WealthBriefing.

One senior source close to the HSBC board said that the decision to simultaneously replace the bank's chairman and chief executive had been taken after a relatively positive market reaction to the possibility of Geoghegan's departure.