(Bloomberg) -- UniCredit SpA’s Chief Executive Officer Jean-Pierre Mustier has emerged as one of the main external candidates vying for the top role at HSBC Holdings Plc, as Europe’s largest lender seeks a new boss.

The French executive has been in talks with HSBC about the job, according to people familiar with the matter. HSBC’s board is still undecided, and is considering candidates including HSBC interim chief, Noel Quinn, one of the people said.

A spokeswoman for Mustier declined to comment as did a spokeswoman for HSBC.

UniCredit shares fell as much as 4.1% in Milan trading following the report, giving the bank a market capitalization of 30.7 billion euros ($33.2 billion).

HSBC said this week it could take until August to name a replacement to John Flint, who was ousted last year as Chairman Mark Tucker intensified his efforts to revive growth at the lender. Until recently, it had appeared that the job would go to Quinn, who has led the business since the exit of Flint. But HSBC held back on announcing a new CEO when it presented its strategy update on Feb. 18, a plan that will eliminate 35,000 jobs over the next few years. The firm said it would shelve buybacks for two years, sending shares down by the most since 2009.

Mustier, 59, who has led UniCredit for four years, has been credited with turning around the bank’s fortunes through the cleanup of its balance sheet and a large-scale cost-cutting program. In December, he unveiled a fresh business plan for the lender. He has been considered for other top European banking jobs, including at Deutsche Bank AG to replace John Cryan in 2018 -- a post that eventually went to Christian Sewing.

Mustier was previously at Societe Generale SA, working his way up the ranks with positions at the investment bank in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong, having joined the French lender in 1987 as a stock-options trader. In 2003, he was appointed head of the corporate and investment bank, before taking over the investment-management division in 2008.

HSBC’s Tucker, who is leading the search for a CEO, said Tuesday said he expected to make an appointment within the “original timetable” of six to 12 months that he set out following Flint’s departure. Tucker and his representatives have been approaching a range of outsiders to gauge their interest in the CEO post. Former Citigroup Inc. global consumer banking head Stephen Bird was among them, although The Sunday Times reported this month that he had ruled himself out of the running for the job.

In its third strategic overhaul in a decade, HSBC will slash about 15% of total jobs over the next three years and take $7.3 billion of charges as it cuts operations in the U.S. and Europe. The firm plans to double down on Asia, source of most of the bank’s profit, but signaled that more bad news was still to come -- once the firm assesses the economic damage wrought by the novel coronavirus.

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To contact the reporters on this story: Harry Wilson in London at hwilson57@bloomberg.net;Geraldine Amiel in Paris at gamiel@bloomberg.net;Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Marion Dakers, James Hertling

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