No reason was given for his departure. Greg Guyett, the division's co-head alongside Phillips and a former JPMorgan banker who was hired in October, will become the sole head of global banking at HSBC, the person said.

HSBC declined to comment on the development.

Sky News and Financial Times had reported earlier that Phillips will step down after 13 years in the job.

The news comes months after a memo was circulated by an anonymous group of colleagues criticizing Phillips, who was accused in the memo of overseeing "persistent failure" in the business. Phillips' departure is not linked to the memo, the source told Reuters.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

By Kanishka Singh