Deputy chairman Simon Robertson will also retire at the same time and board member Safra Catz will stand down at end of 2015.

The bank has also appointed Axa chief executive and chairman Henri De Castries and former Diageo CEO Paul Walsh as independent non-executive directors. These appointments will take effect from 1 March 2016 and 1 January 2016 respectively.

Rona Fairhead and Simon Robertson are HSBC's longest serving non-executive directors having served for close to 12 and 10 years respectively.

(Reporting by Emiliano Mellino, editing by William Hardy)