After years of brand consistency at HSBC, the straight-talking Clark oversaw a period of upheaval at the bank this year.
It concluded a review of its global agency arrangements, which resulted in it dividing the accounts between JWT, Grey London and Saatchi & Saatchi, leading to a degree of confusion as to which agency actually holds the prized UK retail ad account.
Grey appeared to hit the buffers early, embarrassingly for Clark. However, with HSBC’s half-year pre-tax profits up 10% year on year to $14.1bn, he will be feeling quietly pleased with his year.