Samir Assaf


Samir Assaf is the CEO of HSBC Global Banking & Markets.

Life

Samir Assaf was born into a Maronite Lebanese family. He completed his secondary studies at College La Sagesse St Joseph – Ashrafieh before moving to France during the Lebanese Civil War. Samir completed his undergraduate studies at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and his graduate studies at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University. After leaving academia in 1987, he joined French oil giant Total in 1987, rising to head of treasury by the time he left in 1994.

HSBC

In 2000, Samir Assaf joined HSBC, following the UK bank’s acquisition of French commercial bank Crédit Commercial de France. At HSBC, he started as head of fixed income trading, Europe, and head of Global Markets HSBC France. In 2006 he was promoted to head of Global Markets for EMEA and in 2007 became deputy head of Global Markets. Assaf became head of Global Markets in January 2008 and a group general manager in May 2008.
In December 2010, Samir Assaf was appointed CEO of Global Banking and Markets. Assaf also became a group managing director and joined the group management board with responsibility for Global Banking and Markets.
Samir Assaf is fluent in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
In December 2019, HSBC announced that two co-heads, Gregory Guyett and Georges Elhedery would succeed Samir as head of the global banking and markets division.