HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC’s head of Belt and Road Initiative, Mukhtar Hussain, will retire after 39 years at the bank, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. HSBC was one of the first banks to have a dedicated management role focused on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a Chinese programme aiming to boost trade flows via investment in infrastructure. The memo said that after Hussain’s departure HSBC’s BRI team will report to the bank’s Asia strategy office. Hussain, also currently HSBC’s head of business corridors has held multiple roles at the bank in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific since he joined in 1982. An HSBC spokesperson confirmed the content of the memo. Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Alun John, Editing by Louise Heavens Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.