David Eldon

David Gordon Eldon (Chinese: 艾爾敦, born 1945) is former Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. He retired in May 2005, after spending 37 years with HSBC Group. He made a return to banking in 2011 and as of June 2015 holds the positions of non-executive Chairman of HSBC Bank Middle East, HSBC Bank Oman SAOG, and is Chairman of HSBC's Global Commercial Bank Risk Committee.
He was a Senior Adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong and China from September 2005 until 2014.

He commenced a career in banking with an Australian banking group in London in 1964, and joined The British Bank of the Middle East (now HSBC Bank Middle East Limited) in 1968. In January that year he took up his first position in Dubai, remaining in the Middle East undertaking a variety of roles in different countries. He was appointed Manager of Sharjah branch in 1973 and Manager of Ras Al Khaimah branch in 1977.

He took up his first position in Hong Kong in 1979 as Manager Special Projects in the head office of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. He later became a District Manager, with responsibility for the Bank's branches in Mongkok.

Eldon was appointed Deputy Managing Director of The Saudi British Bank (SABB) in 1984 and returned to Hong Kong in 1987, when he took up the position of Senior Manager (International Corporate Accounts). At the end of 1988, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer in Malaysia, and was promoted to General Manager in 1990. He returned to Hong Kong again in 1992 and later became General Manager in The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's International department.

He became an Executive Director of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1994 and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in January 1996. In January 1999, he was appointed Chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Executive Director of HSBC Holdings.

He was also non-executive Chairman of Hang Seng Bank Limited, a director of HSBC Bank Australia Limited (formerly Hongkong Bank of Australia Limited), a director of the MTR Corporation, a director of Swire Pacific Limited, Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority. He was a member of the Presidential Committee for National Competitiveness of President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak. Now, he is Senior Independent Director of the Noble Group, a Director of the DIFC Higher Board in Dubai, and member of a number of other Boards, Advisory Boards and Hong Kong Government entities.

In 2005, Eldon retired, but returned to HSBC in 2011, as non-executive director and chairman of HSBC Bank in the Middle East. In 2013, he became the Chairman of HSBC Bank Oman.

Eldon maintains a blog, where he gives (sometimes controversial) opinions on political topics. In 2014, Eldon attracted attention after posting comments about Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and saying that pro-democracy protesters should "move on from the current impasse" during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. This had led to HSBC feeling the need to comment that the views expressed were his own, and not a company view on the matters.

Born in Inverness, Scotland, Eldon was educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School. Eldon married in 1975 and has three children. One of his two sons is working in Hong Kong, while the other lives in Canberra, Australia. His daughter is also living and working in Hong Kong. Eldon continues to live in Hong Kong, where he has spent about a third of his life, and he intends to remain in Hong Kong.

• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers
• Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers
• Justice of the Peace (2000)
• Honorary Doctor of Business Administration of the City University of Hong Kong (November 2003)
• DHL/SCMP Hong Kong Business Person of the Year for 2003
• Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS) (2004)
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (2005)
• Asian Banker Lifetime Achievement Award (2005)
• Honorary Citizenship of Seoul
• Honorary Doctor of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2011)

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