Board Appointments

HSBC Holdings PLC
27 February 2004

                      BOARD APPOINTMENTS - HSBC HOLDINGS PLC

Michael Geoghegan and Rona Fairhead have been appointed Directors of HSBC
Holdings plc, with effect from 1 March 2004.

Michael Geoghegan, an executive Director, is Chief Executive and an executive
Director of HSBC Bank plc, a position he was appointed to on 1 January 2004.

Rona Fairhead, an independent non-executive Director, has been Finance Director
of Pearson plc since June 2002 and is a member of the Pearson plc Board and
Management Committee. She has also held senior executive positions with ICI plc,
Bombardier Aerospace Services and Short Brothers plc.

Short career biographies for Michael Geoghegan and Rona Fairhead follow.


                               Michael Geoghegan
                         Chief Executive, HSBC Bank plc

Michael Geoghegan (50) was appointed a Director and became Chief Executive of
HSBC Bank plc on 1 January 2004. He was previously President of HSBC Bank Brasil
S.A. - Banco Multiplo, and of HSBC Investment Bank Brasil S.A. and HSBC Seguros
S.A.

He joined the HSBC Group in 1973 and, since then, has spent 12 years in North
and South America, eight years in Asia, seven years in the Middle East and three
years in Europe.

Mr Geoghegan arrived in Brazil in March 1997 to establish the Group's operations
in the country following the creation of Banco HSBC Bamerindus S.A. He was
appointed a Group General Manager of HSBC Holdings plc in the same year.

In January 2000 he became responsible for all of HSBC's business throughout
South America and chaired the Group's Regional Executive Committee.

In October 2000 he became President of HSBC Investment Bank Brasil which
resulted from the Group's acquisition of CCF and the incorporation of certain
activities of HSBC Brasil.

Mr Geoghegan was born on 4 October 1953 in Windsor, England, and was educated
in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In June 2003 he was honoured with a CBE
(Commander Of The British Empire) by her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his
contribution to British business interests in Brazil.

He is married with two sons.


                                 Rona Fairhead
                         Finance Director, Pearson plc

Rona Fairhead (42) was appointed a non-executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc
with effect from 1 March 2004.

Mrs Fairhead is currently Finance Director of Pearson plc, where she is also a
member of the Board and Management Committee. Mrs Fairhead is also a Trustee
Director of the Pearson Group Pension Fund.

Pearson is an international media company with market-leading businesses in
education, business information (The Financial Times Group) and consumer
publishing (Penguin). It has 28,000 employees in 55 countries and is listed on
the London and New York stock exchanges. In 2002, Pearson generated operating
profit of £493m on sales of £4.3bn.

Mrs Fairhead was previously with ICI plc, as Director of Planning & Acquisitions
(1996-97), Executive Vice President for Planning & Communications (1997-98), and
Executive Vice President for Strategy & Group Control (1998-2001). She was also
a member of the ICI Executive Board (1997-2001), and Chairman of the Investment
Committee of the ICI pension fund.

After acting as an Independent Consultant to British Aerospace plc (1990-91),
Mrs Fairhead joined Short Brothers plc in 1994 as Executive Vice President for
Strategy & Communications. She became Executive Vice President & General
Manager, Bombardier Aerospace Services (UK) in 1996.

Mrs Fairhead was born in Cumbria, England, 1961. She was educated at Yarm
Grammar School and holds a first class honours degree in Law from St Catharine's
College, Cambridge. She also gained an MBA from Harvard Business School, USA,
and has served as a non-executive Director of Harvard Business School Publishing
since 2002.

She is married with three children.



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