LONDON: HSBC has appointed former Morgan Stanley Asia dealmaker Wei Sun Christianson as an independent non-executive director to its board, the bank said late on Monday, as a search continues for its next chairperson following the departure of Mark Tucker.

Beijing-born Christianson, 69, left Morgan Stanley in 2022 following 20 years at the investment bank across two stints, rising to become the co-head of its Asia-Pacific business after working on a string of China's biggest deals.

The appointment of one of the highest-profile female investment bankers in Asia will help HSBC's ambition to diversify its board, as well as adding one of the region's best-connected China investment bankers.

Prior to first joining Morgan Stanley in 1998, Christianson held senior regulatory roles at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, where she was involved in the drafting of the rules that would enable Chinese companies to list overseas, according to a biography supplied by HSBC.

HSBC announced that Mark Tucker would retire from the bank in May. He eventually stepped down on September 30 to be replaced by interim Chairman Brendan Nelson while it seeks Tucker's successor.

That search remains underway and the bank will update the market in due course, Chief Financial Officer Pam Kaur told reporters on October 28 in response to media reports that the process was taking longer than hoped. (Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Jan Harvey)