Chairman Stephen Green told the Financial Times he planned to run the bank as a "double act" with Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan, who would lead its management team to deliver the strategy.

In an interview in Monday's edition of the newspaper, Green also said Europe's biggest bank did make mistakes but always moved to fix the problem.

Green detailed the division of labor between the post of chairman and chief executive, calling it an evolution of the respective roles under his predecessor, John Bond.

"There is an important double act which enables the chairman to have the time to focus on the things that a chairman is responsible for and the CEO to focus with the management team on the performance of the company," Green said.

"It's not a one-man band and can't be."

His stance was a distinct shift from the hands-on style favored by Bond, the FT noted.

Green, promoted from CEO to chairman last May, listed his responsibilities as group strategy, corporate governance and representing London-based HSBC (0005.HK: Quote, Profile , Research) in public.

"I don't think you can have a sense of a chairman not having important final responsibility for the company," he said, according to a transcript of the interview published late on Sunday on the FT's Web site. "I reckon I work about a hundred and something percent of the time.

Quizzed on HSBC's U.S.-based consumer finance arm, HSBC Finance -- the former Household business bought in March 2003 -- Green defended the acquisition as "strategically important" and said he had full confidence in its management team.

The bank's share price had been knocked in the past few months by concerns about mortgage loans made by the finance branch, according to the FT. Fears had been raised that the bank might suffer from a slump in the U.S. economy, it added.

"Just as a general proposition, do we get everything right all the time, no, of course we don't, we make execution mistakes sometimes and then you fix the problems; the important point to know is you're on the case and fixing the problem," Green said.

In the extensive interview, Green said HSBC was looking for opportunities to expand in eastern Europe, admitting that the bank had missed out in the 1990s.

"I think in eastern Europe there are opportunities in small business, there are opportunities in consumer finance, there are opportunities in direct banking," Green said.

He also had an eye on Russia.

"I think the retail banking market in Russia is one which is in some senses crying out for good quality service from international competitors," said the HSBC boss.

"Now, there are a number of our competitors who are already active there but it is still a very young market with lots of opportunity and we do need to grow there and, by the way, Russia's a place where you can, and probably should, grow organically."

HSBC, which is the world's third biggest bank with operations spanning 81 countries, said in December its growth has slowed since the first half of the year due to a weak U.S. housing market and a slowdown at its investment bank arm.