The news today that Mr [Stephen] Green is planning his departure as chairman of HSBC gives us an opportunity to pause and consider the record of the man who, after meeting his wife while working as a volunteer at a hostel for alcoholics, has carved out a career where he has tried to match morals and Mammon.
Mr Green is a devout Christian and an ordained Anglican priest. Last year he wrote Good Value – Reflections On Money, Morality And An Uncertain World, about how shareholder value should mean more than simple monetary reward. The dividend and the bottom line was only one way to judge the performance of a company – what about its social role or environmental impact?
Mr Green said at the time that the system had suffered “a massive breakdown of trust: trust in the financial system, trust in bankers, trust in business, trust in business leaders, trust in politicians, trust in the whole process of globalisation”. The author Giles Foden, reviewing the book, described him as “the sage banker”.