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* Chmn Flint and CEO Gulliver likely to step down in next 2years
* Bank previously said chairman will be external candidate
* Identity of chmn to determine if bank looks to replaceGulliver
* HSBC set to report annual results Monday
By Lawrence White
LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Having finally put to rest a10-month long debate over where its home should be, HSBC now has to assure investors it has a long-termleadership plan, with Chairman Douglas Flint and Chief ExecutiveStuart Gulliver likely set to step down in the next two years.
While no firm date has been set for either man's departure,Flint is expected to relinquish his post in the next year, whileGulliver said last Monday he will stay on until at least untilthe end of 2017 to complete a strategic plan set out last June.
HSBC is set to report annual results on Monday, withanalysts braced for it to give a bleak outlook for revenuegrowth in 2016 against a difficult global market environment.
Europe's biggest bank has previously said that, in a breakfrom tradition, its next chairman will be an external candidate,possibly a non-executive director already on the lender's board.
The identity of that chairman would determine whether thebank then looks immediately to replace Gulliver, sources said,with the bank's chief seen by staff and investors as havingplayed a difficult hand well since he took over in 2010.
"For Stuart it's all about who comes in to be the nextchairman, but I think the board want him to go on," said asenior Hong Kong-based HSBC banker familiar with the board'sthinking.
If Gulliver does leave, most investors and HSBC insidersfeel there is no obvious lead candidate to replace him - acommon problem at large global banks where succession planningin recent years has seldom been smooth.
"As a matter of good governance, we always have successionplans in place for all senior executives, however we are notworking to a specific timetable for either the chairman or chiefexecutive succession," a spokeswoman for HSBC said in an emailedstatement.
Both Flint and Gulliver took their roles after a boardroombattle in 2010, which marked a departure from HSBC's trackrecord of orderly successions.
Among top current management, global banking and marketshead Samir Assaf and retail and wealth management head JohnFlint are the most often cited contenders.
A third potential candidate, former commercial banking headSimon Cooper, took himself out of the running by leaving HSBC inDecember to become corporate and investment banking head atrival Standard Chartered.
POSSIBLE CANDIDATES
A final option would be to hand the reins to financedirector Iain Mackay, seen as a safe pair of hands but perhapslacking Gulliver's polish with investors, in an interim capacitywhile the bank launches a wider external search.
An external candidate might be more emboldened to take theradical steps that some investors believe is necessary for adramatic improvement in HSBC's share price.
"The board's got big questions to answer; I mean, shouldHSBC split up? ... You're probably not going to get thatdecision from an insider who believes in continuity," said AliMiremadi, fund manager at THS Partners, which owns shares inHSBC.
Among possible external candidates, Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, tipped last yearas a candidate for CEO at Standard Chartered, is seen as havingthe necessary experience.
Spokesmen at Lloyds and Standard Chartered declined tocomment on behalf of Horta-Osorio and Cooper respectively.
Some investors said the 10-month review into whether HSBCshould relocate had not harmed Gulliver, as the downsides ofmoney spent on the process and the uncertainty it created hadbeen more than offset by positive effects.
In particular, a decision by the British government to tonedown its bank levy was seen by many analysts as a concession tokeep the bank in Britain, though both sides have denied anydirect link.
"He is certainly not damaged, he acted prettyprofessionally, and now it's back to running the bank andgetting it back in shape," said Hugh Young, managing director inSingapore for Aberdeen Asset management, the bank'ssixth-largest shareholder.
Sources close to Gulliver and investors, however, said theexecutive had lately sounded weary regarding the duration of histenure, during which he has grappled with a raft of regulatoryissues and a battle to shrink the bank after the empire-buildingof the previous regime.
"Stuart said to me recently he feels he was born five yearstoo early or too late," one source close to Gulliver toldReuters. "He missed the glory years pre-crisis, and willprobably leave before reaping the benefits of the overhaul he'sdone." (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London and DennyThomas in Hong Kong; Editing by David Holmes)
