HSBC Holdings Board Appts

HSBC Holdings PLC
27 September 2002

                        HSBC HOLDINGS BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Stewart Newton, Carole Taylor and Sir Brian Williamson have been appointed
non-executive directors of HSBC Holdings plc with effect from today.

Mr Newton founded Newton Investment Management in 1977, retiring from the
company in 2002.

Ms Taylor is Chair of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Immediate Past
Chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade. She is a director of Canfor, Fairmont
Hotels and HSBC Bank USA.

Sir Brian is Chairman of the London International Financial Futures and Options
Exchange and, since 2000, of Electra Investment Trust plc.

Brief biographical details of the new directors are attached.

Stewart Worth Newton

Stewart Newton was appointed a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc with
effect from 27 September 2002.

He was born in 1941, in Blackpool, United Kingdom. After qualifying as a
chartered accountant, Mr Newton spent several years as an investment analyst at
W Greenwell (1963-68). In 1968, he joined Ivory & Sime where he was director and
fund manager.

In 1977, he founded Newton Investment Management. Control of the company was
sold to Mellon Bank in 1998 and, when sale of the remainder of the company was
finalised in September 2000, Mr Newton became a non-executive director. He
retired from Newton Investment Management in April 2002.

Mr Newton is also on the advisory board of the East Asia Institute at Cambridge
University.

He is married and has three daughters.

Carole Taylor

Carole Taylor was appointed a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc with
effect from 27 September 2002.

She was born in 1945 in Toronto, Canada, and was educated at the University of
Toronto, Canada.

Ms Taylor became Chair of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2001.

Her professional career began in broadcasting in 1964 when, for over 20 years,
she worked for a variety of Canadian broadcasting firms. She then left
broadcasting and, from 1986 to 1990, pursued her interest in politics. In 1986,
she ran, and was elected, as an independent for Vancouver City Council. She
chaired various neighbourhood and community services committees, and in 1988 won
a second political term.

At the end of her second political term, Ms Taylor served as Vice-Chair of the
Vancouver Port Corporation (VPC). She was then appointed to chair the VPC and
the Canada Ports Corporation. She was Chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade in
2001 to 2002. It was in this last post that she headed the Spirit of Vancouver
Taskforce in a community-wide effort to revitalise partnership between business
and Vancouver life.

Ms Taylor is also Immediate Past Chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade, and a
director of Canfor, Fairmont Hotels and HSBC Bank USA.

Sir Brian Williamson, CBE

Sir Brian Williamson was appointed a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc
with effect from 27 September 2002.

He was born in 1945, in Plymouth, United Kingdom, and was educated at Trinity
College, Dublin.

Sir Brian became Chairman of the London International Financial Futures and
Options Exchange in 1998, having been a founding director and its second
Chairman until 1988, and became Chairman of Electra Investment Trust plc in
2000.

He was formerly Chairman of Gerrard Group plc (1989-98), the banking, fund
management, stock and derivatives broking group, and served (1986-1998) as a
director to each of the four Chairmen of the Financial Services Authority,
previously the Securities and Investment Board.

Sir Brian was a member of the Court of the Bank of Ireland from 1990 to 1998.
Past directorships include Fleming Worldwide Income Investment Trust plc
(1990-98) and Barlows plc (1997-98).

He has been a member of the NASDAQ stock market's International Markets Advisory
Board since 1993, and a member of the Centre for Study of Financial Innovation's
Governing Council since 2000. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Army
Common Investment Fund, a director of Politeia, and a trustee of St Paul's
Cathedral Foundation.


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