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Appointed as a Non Executive Director and as Chair-designate on 1 December 2019, Irene is a member of the Nomination Committee (which she will Chair in due course) and of the Remuneration Committee. Following her qualification as a barrister, she had a long and distinguished career, largely at HSBC, where she held a number of senior positions for over 30 years until the end of 2014. Her roles included running HSBC’s Malaysian operations, becoming CEO and President of HSBC in the United States and also being appointed as Group Managing Director of HSBC Holdings and a member of the Group Management Board. Irene currently holds independent non executive roles at AXA SA and Rolls-Royce Holdings plc and she also chairs Control Risks Limited, a risk consultancy business. During 2018 Irene also chaired Virgin Money Holdings (UK) plc prior to it being acquired. Irene will work closely with the Chair, Kevin Beeston during a handover period and it is anticipated that she will assume the role of Chair following the announcement of the Company’s 2019 Full Year Results on 26 February 2020, at which time Kevin will stand down from the Board.