Now comes the questions as to whether the board will look to promote the sort of chap who has come up through the branch network and is comfortable at Rotary Club dinners or whether it will choose another investment banker who knows what to do with the powerhouse Diamond is leaving behind.
One contact of mine in Asia has already suggested that they should bring BofA’s former European head, Jonathan Moulds, out of retirement – he has all the qualifications and a clean bill of health – but I can’t see anyone who hasn’t spent his/her life aspiring to the job as CEO of a major clearer to want to take it on.
A bit of assiduous headhunting around HSBC might not be too bad an idea. When Douglas Flint raced up the outside lane to take the chair there with Stuart Gulliver inheriting the mantle of CEO, there must have been quite a few who saw their dreams shattered.
Opportunities abound!