FILE PHOTO: A Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) logo is displayed outside a bank branch in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo

(Reuters) -HSBC's U.S. CEO Lisa McGeough stepped down months after taking the job and the bank tapped longtime executive Jason Henderson as interim head while it looks for a successor.

McGeough, who joined HSBC in 2021, is leaving to "pursue new opportunities", the lender disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday. Her appointment in January was part of a raft of leadership changes by CEO Georges Elhedery.

The transition comes at a pivotal time for HSBC, which has reshaped its U.S. footprint in recent years. The U.S. "remains a critical market within HSBC's international network and central to its growth strategy", it said in a statement.

HSBC exited most of its consumer operations in the country in 2021, selling parts of the retail banking business to Citizens Financial and Cathay General Bancorp.

The lender also shuttered its business banking portfolio in the U.S. in May to simplify operations. London-based HSBC is Europe's biggest bank by assets.

Henderson most recently served as deputy U.S. head of banking and will continue those duties while taking on the interim role. He will report to Michael Roberts, CEO of corporate and institutional banking, effective immediately.

Henderson has spent nearly two decades at HSBC, according to his LinkedIn profile, holding executive roles in the U.S. and Canada. Before that, he was at RBC Capital Markets for about 13 years.

(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen in New York and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)