The new head is taking over from Alex Classen, who has decided to leave the firm and take up a new opportunity. HSBC thanked Classen for guiding the business during the pandemic.

HSBC has appointed a new head of private banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa: Gabriel Castello. He is taking over from Alex Classen, who has decided to leave the bank after more than three years to take on a non-executive opportunity.

Castello also coordinates the activities of HSBC’s private banking, commercial banking, global banking and asset management businesses in Switzerland, the bank said in a statement. 

Subject to regulatory approval, Castello will join HSBC in July and will be based in Switzerland. 

With more than 30 years’ experience in private banking and wealth management, Castello was previously at Quintet Bank, where he was a partner and member of the group executive committee. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at UBS in a variety of senior roles, including CEO of France, head of wealth management for LatAm and Caribbean, and executive vice chairman of global wealth management, UBS Switzerland. Before joining UBS, Castello spent 17 years at CaixaBank in Spain and France.

“Drawing on a wealth of experience, he’ll drive the expansion of our private banking business in EMEA as we grow in our key European and MENAT markets, further enhance our global offering and invest in our client-facing colleagues,” Annabel Spring, CEO of HSBC Global Private Banking, said. (“MENAT” stands for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.)

See here for HSBC's financial results for Q1, 2022.