HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, tapped an outsider for its top job on Monday, appointing insurance veteran and AIA Group boss Mark Tucker as chairman to replace Douglas Flint, who plans to step down in 2017.

A one-time professional footballer who has held several leadership jobs including running Britain's Prudential, Mr Tucker will take over as group chairman designate from 1 September and as non-executive group chairman on 1 October.

The bank's shares rose 1.2 percent in Hong Kong on Monday on news of the appointment, which market-watchers said signalled the bank's ongoing pivot towards Asia and steadier, lower-risk income streams.

"The appointment of a safe pair of hands like Mr Tucker potentially signals an increasing focus on steadier, annuity-style income streams where HSBC has a competitive advantage and which are also set to benefit as interest rates rise," said Benjamin Quinlan, chief executive of Hong Kong consultancy Quinlan & Associates.

"It also highlights a renewed focus on risk and compliance after HSBC recently got itself in hot water with regulators. The strategy now is all about stability and predictability."

Among the first tasks for Tucker - whose appointment breaks with HSBC's usual practice of appointing insiders for its top jobs - will be to identify a successor to HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver, a process expected to conclude in 2018.

Flint and Gulliver's departure from HSBC after six years will end one of the longest-serving management partnerships at a major global bank.

The pair slashed over 43,000 jobs and sold assets worldwide as they attempted to shrink the group back to profitability amid a tough environment for global banks.

With more than $1.2 trillion in customer deposits, HSBC has suffered more than most lenders from low global interest rates which have made it difficult to invest deposits profitably.

HSBC's full-year profit slumped 62 percent and fell far short of forecasts last month as the bank took hefty writedowns from restructuring efforts and flagged near-term brakes on revenue growth.

NEW CEO

In choosing the next chief executive, Tucker will first have to decide whether to promote one of the lender's existing senior executives or select an outsider like himself.

For his efforts, Tucker will receive an annual fee of 1.5 million pounds ($1.83 million) in addition to standard benefits, HSBC said.

His basic salary at AIA in 2015 was $1.5 million, but short-term and long-term incentives could bring that total as high as $9.9 million, according to AIA's latest annual report.

Leading internal candidates for the CEO role include HSBC's Europe chief Antonio Simoes and retail and wealth management head John Flint, while former Goldman Sachs banker Matthew Westerman is seen by some internally as a candidate despite overseeing a relatively small part of the investment bank.

Among external candidates, Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio is the name most frequently cited by investors.

An exodus of senior talent from the industry in the wake of the global financial crisis had made it "extremely challenging" to find very senior executives, Quinlan said.

The new CEO's main challenge will be to restore revenue growth at HSBC. The bank's return on equity, a key measure of performance, slumped last year to less than one percent compared with 7.6 percent the year before and far short of a long-term target of 10 percent.

Other obstacles to boosting HSBC's profits include low demand for loans in its twin home markets of Britain and Hong Kong, reflected in a loan-to-deposit ratio of 67 percent, below most of the lender's global peers.

HSBC also faces slowing economic growth in China, dampening hopes that an Asia pivot strategy announced last year could boost returns for the bank.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

While HSBC’s share price has barely risen during the tenure of Flint and Gulliver, the pair can point to successes, including the shrinking of the bank following a pre-2008 era of excessive empire-building and a clean-up of its culture.

In a separate statement, AIA said Ng Keng Hooi, its regional chief executive, will succeed Tucker from Sept. 1.

Tucker is also stepping down from the board of Goldman Sachs.