HSBC Innovation Banking UK: Executive Committee Bios

Erin Platts is CEO, HSBC Innovation Banking UK and is responsible for leading, developing and scaling the Bank’s business across the UK and Nordics. HSBC Innovation Banking is a full-service UK subsidiary Bank with all local operations and functions under Erin’s leadership. Erin is well versed in scaling highly regulated businesses, is an active spokesperson for the ecosystem, and is experienced working across several global regulators. Erin also joined HSBC UK's Executive Committee in June 2023 and previously served on several external boards.

As a 20-year veteran of banking the innovation sector, Erin joined SVB Financial Group in 2004, relocated to the UK in 2007 and was most recently CEO of SVB UK from 2019 and until HSBC's acquisition in March 2023.

Along with the team she scaled the business to over 800 people across 6 countries and led through various successful banking licenses including transforming the UK operations to a standalone regulated subsidiary in 2022.

Erin is a well-connected and active champion of the global innovation economy and is a dual US and UK citizen. Under Erin’s leadership several external partnerships have been formed with HSBC Innovation Banking to advance the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion agenda in the local markets which include Career Ready, the Newton Venture Program, Diversity VC, Tech Nation, Founders Forum, & Atomico’s State of European Tech report.

In 2020, Erin was selected by Innovate Finance as a Top Women in Fintech under the Senior leader category and by Computer Weekly in the top 200 Most Influential Women in Tech. Erin earned a BA in Business Management and Entrepreneurial Studies from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Tom joined HSBC Innovation Banking in April 2023 as Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for the financial management of the Bank and is also a member of the Board

Tom is a Chartered Accountant with 25 years' experience in the financial industry and has spent over a decade at HSBC, most recently as HSBC UK's Head of Retail Banking.

Tom has held a number of finance leadership roles across HSBC including the CFO & Head of Strategy for the UK Wealth and Personal Banking business, Global CFO for HSBC Insurance and CFO for the Retail & Wealth business in MENA, based in Dubai. Prior to HSBC, Tom was an Audit Director at KPMG, specialising in Banking & Insurance clients across the world.

Tom has a degree in Econometrics from the University of Sheffield and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales.

Patrick joined HSBC Innovation Banking in April 2020 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for managing the bank’s operations, client service and lifecycle management, technology data privacy & governance, vendor management and first line controls. He is focused on developing, implementing and executing the operational strategy and resilience, streamlining systems and improving processes to better serve the bank’s clients and employees. Patrick has also taken on a vital role of Executive Sponsor for the HINV Employee Resource Group for disABILITY, helping to promote and drive a culture of equity and equality for all in the workplace.

Patrick brings with him over 25 years of experience in financial services, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Santander Corporate and Investment Bank where he was responsible for Middle Office, Governance Operational Risk and Compliance, Business Management and Change, Technology and Operations. At Barclays Investment Bank he held the role of Chief Operating Officer of Global Finance Risk Solutions. He has also held senior operational roles at Nomura and Lehman Brothers.

Patrick started his career in the British Army as an Aircraft Engineering Officer where he served in a variety of front-line and staff roles. He holds a BEng in Electronic Systems Engineering as well as an MBA from Cranfield University.

Simon Bumfrey is Head of Technology and Life Sciences for HSBC Innovation Banking UK & Nordics. He is responsible for client relationship and debt structuring teams focused on fast growth innovation businesses, from early-stage, venture capital–backed companies, to those that are publicly listed and private equity–owned.

Simon has spent more than 35 years working in commercial banking, with the last 25 years focused on the technology, media and telecommunication sectors. Before joining HSBC Innovation Banking in 2017, he led teams at Barclays Bank, Bank of Ireland and Lloyds Banking Group. While at Barclays, he expanded his expertise into global markets by managing credit risk for clients in Africa, the Caribbean and Middle East.

Simon works out of London and frequently spends time with clients and investors across the ecosystem.

He sits on The Scale Up Institute and Gender Index Advisory Boards. He is also the executive sponsor of Innovation Banking’s Gender Equality Employee Resource Group.

Alex has worked in depth in the financial services industry, in senior roles in banking, reinsurance, insurance and asset management.

She has worked across all 3 lines of defence over the course of her career, spending more than 10 years working at EY as a Risk/Audit consultant, and 10 years in industry.

During this time, Alex has built-up an extensive knowledge of auditing and risk management, alongside in-depth FS industry knowledge, and more recently she has specialised her focus in FinTech/the innovation economy at ClearBank and HSBC Innovation Banking.

Additionally, Alex practices agile and lean auditing as part of her successful, pragmatic approach to building audit teams ‘from scratch’ (ClearBank and SVB UK).

Alex is a Chartered Internal Auditor, and a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

Elly leads Marketing and Client Experience for HSBC Innovation Banking globally and in the UK. In this role she is responsible for shaping the organisation’s overarching Marketing and CX strategy and overseeing areas including our brand, corporate communications, insights and partnerships - aligned with the long-term vision of the business, corporate goals, and the wider business strategy.

Elly is an accomplished marketing executive with 18 years’ experience delivering business growth and scaling brands across regions through marketing excellence. Prior to taking the global role, Elly led EMEA Marketing - most recently supporting the launch of Innovation Banking under the HSBC brand - having spent over 13 years with Silicon Valley Bank leading Marketing, CX and Communications across multiple markets, including the US and Asia. During her tenure she drove the launch of the SVB brand in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Nordics, as well as playing a leading role in the development of the Marketing strategy for SVB’s joint-venture with Shanghai-Pudong Development Bank.

She has worked across all life stages of the innovation economy – from consumer tech to B2B both in house and agency side – always working hand-in-hand alongside sales and product teams to deliver commercial outcomes.

Elly is a passionate champion of the innovation ecosystem and continues to spearhead work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within HSBC Innovation Banking.

Rupy is the Chief Strategic Transformation Officer at HSBC Innovation Banking. Rupy is responsible for the strategic planning and delivery of the change portfolio supporting the scale up of HSBC Innovation Banking. In her current role she is able to spend time with founders in the innovation ecosystem and understand the growth challenges they face.

Rupy is a commercially focused Business Leader with over 25 years’ experience in Tier 1 Banks including HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays. Rupy has experience across Retail Banking, Private Banking & Wealth, Insurance, Commercial Banking and Investment Banking. She has also worked across several functions including COO, Technology, Operations, Finance, Risk and Treasury.

Rupy has led multi-million dollar transformations across Innovation, Technology, Digitisation, Organisational Agility, Acquisition and Divestment. She has led diverse teams across the UK, Europe, Asia, Americas, Middle East and Africa. A strong believer in developing solutions for the clients need and also the colleague, she is an expert in guiding people to evolve alongside new immersive technologies.

She was awarded the Innovator of the Year: Enterprise at the Women in Tech Awards 2021 and was a finalist as Digital Leader of the Year & Woman of the Year, demonstrating her commitment to the innovation tech landscape and her role in supporting organisations to scale with an evolutionary approach.

Rupy is a passionate advocate of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and is Executive Co-Sponsor of the Racial Equity Employee Resource Group at HSBC Innovation Banking and uses her platform to inspire the next generation of diverse leaders.

Patrick Moynihan is the Chief Risk & Compliance Officer for HSBC Innovation Banking UK. He is responsible for all risk and compliance matters for the organisation.

Patrick has over 30 years of financial services experience in consulting and banking roles at Accenture, JP Morgan Chase and Barclays Bank.

Before joining HSBC Innovation Banking UK, formerly SVB UK, in February 2023, he spent the last 22 years of his career at Barclays Bank. While at Barclays, Patrick covered a wide range of roles operating across most of the bank’s businesses and functions in disciplines of strategy, change, operations and risk & control.

Roles held include, Head of Strategy Corporate Bank, Head of Middle Office and Operations Corporate bank, Chief of Staff Group Risk, Chief Controls Officer Barclays Execution Services and Group Head of Operational Risk.

Paola Parsons is Head of HR for HSBC Innovation Banking in the UK. She is responsible for the HR Strategy including Board and executive remuneration, reward strategy, succession planning, talent management and organisational design. Paola has extensive experience across all aspects of HR, but with particular expertise in employee engagement, transformational change, employee relations and talent management.

Paola joined HSBC Innovation Banking UK, formerly SVB UK in 2021 as the Group Head of HR for EMEA and her remit expanded to International (India GDC and China). Prior to joining SVB she was the Regional Head of HR, Europe and Americas at Standard Chartered Bank where she established the European subsidiary in Germany in preparation for Brexit and set up a new office in Poland as nearshore for the region.

She also spent five years at Experian where she held several senior HR positions including Regional HR Director covering the UK and EMEA. She was responsible for end to end HR as well as Communication and Corporate Responsibility, managing a team of 100 professionals. She managed complex M&A activity (acquisitions and divestments) and set up offshore shared services in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Paola also worked for Barclays Bank for 14 years in a variety of specialist, regional and global HR roles.

Ad van der Poel is the Chief Product Officer at HSBC Innovation Banking UK. In this role he is responsible for the development, deployment and commercialisation of credit products, liquidity, payments, receivables, FX, card, channels and information services for innovators and their investors.

Prior to joining HSBC Innovation Banking UK, formerly SVB UK, in 2022, Ad was managing director for Bank of America, Global Transaction Services, Product Management EMEA. As part of this position, he was responsible for the management of a multitude of liquidity, payments and cash management products as well as digital channels including APIs. He also focused on innovations such as virtual account management, pay by bank solutions and electronic bill presentment & payment (EBPP) products as part of the global portfolio.

During his 25 years in the payments industry, Ad has also led Basware Financial Services, a global purchase-to-pay SAAS (software-as-a-service) provider for multinational companies. This included setting up a fintech business unit which developed payments, cash management, supply chain finance and working capital services. Ad started his career at ING where in his final few years he was executive director of Payments Innovation. He has experience in strategy, product management, programme management, operations and IT, and is one of the founders of iDEAL, a successful online payments method in the Netherlands.

Ad has held positions in a variety of interbank communities and working groups on both a national and European level including CHAPS, SWIFT UK, the European Banking Association and the European Payment Council.

Ad has a degree in International Marketing and Business.

Gavin Rees heads HSBC Innovation Banking UK’s Strategic Fund Solutions (SFS) team, headquartered in London. The SFS team provides banking, FX and specialist fund financing solutions to over 250 venture capital and private equity managers. The team focuses on emerging fund managers, through to mid-cap managers in the UK and the Nordics. Products include capital call, NAV, management company and GP lines of credit.

Gavin has over 30 years of specialist commercial banking experience, including 7 years in securitization covering a range of retail and commercial asset classes, followed by 19 years in funds finance in the US and Europe. He was a founder member of the WestLB funds finance team in New York, before establishing Barclays’ European funds finance practice in London, from where he joined HSBC Innovation Banking, formerly SVB UK, in 2016 as the head of the European SFS business.

Gavin has a BA in PPE from Oxford University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is the Executive Sponsor of HSBC Innovation Banking UK’s Pride Employee Resource Group.

Emma is responsible for the credit risk management of the HSBC Innovation loan book including approvals, credit risk policies and risk rating methodologies, counterparty credit risk and problem loan management. With over 20 years' experience in lending to European Innovation companies including roles leading corporate and leveraged lending teams in the sector before moving into Credit Risk for VC-backed companies, Emma has extensive experience financing Innovation companies across our lending platform.

As General Counsel and Company Secretary for the UK, Jim Watts is responsible for HSBC Innovation Banking's legal function and provides company secretarial support to the UK Board. In both roles, Jim works closely with every team across the bank giving him a rewarding insight into the full spectrum of the organisation.

Prior to his role at HSBC Innovation Banking Jim had a varied career, starting in computer science and progressing to law. During his time as a Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys Jim focused on supporting innovation companies through M&A as well as VC and PE financing. Jim holds a BSc in Computer Science and Management from King's College London.