CCF - Senior Appointment

HSBC Holdings PLC
07 January 2004

                               SENIOR APPOINTMENT

Charles de Croisset, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CCF since 1993, and
an Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc since 2000, is to retire from the
HSBC Group at the end of February 2004.

Subject to Board approval, Mr de Croisset will be succeeded as Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of CCF by Charles-Henri Filippi, currently Group General
Manager and Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking at HSBC. Mr
Filippi, who joined CCF in 1987, will also coordinate the HSBC Group's strategy
in the eurozone.

HSBC Group Chairman, Sir John Bond, said: "Charles has led CCF with great
distinction and has made a very significant contribution to the HSBC Board.
Under his stewardship CCF has become one of the most respected banks in France.
It was his vision which brought CCF successfully into HSBC to the benefit of
both organisations. We shall miss having Charles as a colleague but we are
fortunate that as talented and experienced an executive as Charles-Henri is
succeeding him."

Charles de Croisset will retire from the Boards of HSBC Holdings plc and HSBC
Bank plc on 27 February 2004 and 25 February 2004 respectively.

Biographies of Charles de Croisset and Charles-Henri Filippi follow.

                              Charles de Croisset
                      Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
                                      CCF

Charles de Croisset is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CCF.

Mr de Croisset was born in New York in 1943. He graduated from the Institute of
Political Studies in Paris and from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. He
also has a bachelor's degree in law.

In 1968 Mr de Croisset became Inspecteur des Finance with the French Finance
Ministry and in 1972 Assistant to the Economic Adviser of the President of the
Republic (Mr Georges Pompidou). In 1974 he was appointed a Member of the
Minister's staff at the Ministry of Finance, then in 1976 at The Ministry of
Public Works, Housing and Urban Planning, Transportation (Mr Jean Pierre
Fourcade). In 1978 he became Chief of Staff and assistant to the Minister of
Industry and Energy (Mr Andre Giraud).

Mr de Croisset joined CCF in 1980 as Secretary General. In 1983 he was appointed
Senior Executive Vice President in charge of international affairs and in 1986
Senior Executive Vice President and then President (1987) in charge of the
Banking Department. In 1987 Mr de Croisset became Chief of Staff of the State
Minister of Economy, Finance and Privatisation (Mr Edouard Balladur). In June
1988 Mr de Croisset returned to CCF as President and Chief Operating Officer,
Banking Department. He has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CCF
since May 1993.

Mr de Croisset became an Officier de la Legion d'Honneur in May 2003.

                             Charles-Henri Filippi
   Group General Manager & Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking
                               HSBC Holdings plc

Charles-Henri Filippi was born in France in 1952 and was educated at the
Institut d'Etudes Politiques and Ecole Nationale d'Administration.

Following a number of senior appointments in the French Civil Service
(1979-1987), he joined Banque Stern as a director.

He then joined CCF in 1987 as Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer. He
was appointed Executive Vice President, Corporate Finance and Banking in 1989,
then Senior Executive Vice President, and Managing Director in 1993.

He became Group Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Finance and Banking
in 1995.

In 1998 he was appointed Executive President and joined the Board of CCF, also
becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC CCF Investment Bank
(France).

After HSBC's acquisition of CCF in 2000, Mr Filippi was appointed Executive
Director of HSBC Investment Banking and Markets and joined the Board of HSBC
Bank plc.

He was appointed Group General Manager & Global Head of Corporate and
Institutional Banking for HSBC Holdings in November 2001, and moved to London.
He also became a member of the HSBC Group's Executive Committee.

In May 2002, Corporate and Institutional Banking was integrated within the
Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets division and, in addition to his
current role, Mr Filippi took on the wider relationship banking responsibilities
for the division.

He is married and has four children.


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