Brendan Nelson was appointed non-executive Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc on 1 October 2025.
He joined the HSBC Board on 1 September 2023, becoming Chairman of the Group Audit Committee in February 2024. He is the Chairman of the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee, and a member of the Group Risk Committee and the Group Technology and Operations Committee. In addition, Brendan is a non-executive Director of the Group’s subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank plc.
He is Chairman of BP Pension Trustees Limited.
Brendan spent over 25 years at KPMG LLP, where he was admitted as a Partner in 1984. During his time at KPMG, he held various positions, including Global Chairman of Banking and Global Chairman of Financial Services. He served on the KPMG UK Board, starting in 2000. He became a Vice Chairman in 2006 – a position he held until his retirement from KPMG in 2010.
He served as non-executive Director on the Boards of bp plc, from 2010 to 2021, and NatWest Group plc, from 2010 to 2019. He was Chairman of the Audit Committee at both companies.
Brendan is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 2013-2014. He was a member of the Financial Services Practitioner Panel and the Financial Reporting Review Panel of the UK Financial Reporting Council.