Board Appointment

HSBC Holdings PLC
25 April 2003


                               BOARD APPOINTMENT

William F Aldinger, chairman and chief executive officer of Household
International, Inc., has today been appointed an executive Director of HSBC
Holdings plc.

Mr Aldinger will continue to lead Household's businesses and will assume overall
responsibility for the HSBC Group's North American operations as chairman and
chief executive officer of HSBC North America Inc. later this year.


A brief biography of Mr Aldinger follows.


                            William F Aldinger, III

                      Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

                            Household International

William F Aldinger is chairman and chief executive officer of Household
International, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. He will become chairman and
chief executive officer of HSBC North America Inc. later this year.

Household International was acquired by HSBC Holdings plc in March 2003.

Mr Aldinger joined Household as president and chief executive officer in 1994.
In 1998, Household acquired Beneficial Corporation, its oldest competitor,
bringing together the two most recognised names in consumer finance, HFC and
Beneficial.

Prior to Household, Mr Aldinger joined Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco, as
executive vice president of the bank's private banking group in 1986. In 1992,
he was named vice chairman, with responsibility for the private banking and
consumer credit groups. In 1993, he was appointed vice chairman with the added
responsibility of the retail banking group. Before joining Wells Fargo, Mr
Aldinger was with Citibank, New York (1975-1986) and US Trust Company, New York
(1969-1975).

Mr Aldinger graduated from The Baruch School of City College of New York in
1969, and the Brooklyn Law School, where he received his law degree in 1975. He
is a member of the New York Bar.

Mr Aldinger serves on the boards of directors of Mastercard International,
Illinois Tool Works, Inc, the combined board of directors of Children's Memorial
Medical Center/Children's Memorial Hospital and the Children's Memorial
Foundation.

He is a member of the board of directors of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and
of the Chicago Urban League Business Advisory Council. In addition, he serves on
the board of trustees of Northwestern University, the J L Kellogg Graduate
School of Management, the Baruch College Fund and Chicago's Museum of Science
and Industry.

Mr Aldinger is a member of The Chicago Club, The Commercial Club of Chicago and
the Committee for Economic Development.

Pursuant to Rule 16.4(a) of the Listing Rules Mr Aldinger is a Director of the
following publicly quoted companies:

* MasterCard Incorporated

* Illinois Tool Works, Inc.

and has been a Director of the following publicly quoted companies during the
last five years:

* Household International, Inc.

* SunAmerica Inc.

* Stone Container Corporation

There are no matters relating to the appointment of Mr Aldinger which need to be
disclosed pursuant to Rule 16.4(b) of the Listing Rules.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange