【英语国际】汇丰警告将总部迁出英国

HSBC has given the clearest warning yet that British banks would move their headquarters abroad if the UK government- appointed Commission on Banking were to decide that big groups should be broken up.

Stuart Gulliver, the group’s investment banking head and the favourite to succeed Michael Geoghegan as chief executive, said yesterday he was “genuinely concerned” that the commission would recommend that universal banks, such as HSBC, should split their high street banking from their riskier investment banking activities.

“It is clearly possible that that commission comes up with a recommendation to break up the banks,” Mr Gulliver told a conference sponsored by Nomura, the Japanese bank. “[That] has significant implications clearly for where we may choose to headquarter our institution.”

The comments follow more veiled suggestions from Barclays and Standard Chartered last month that they could relocate to Asia or the US if they were threatened with break-up. HSBC would almost certainly choose Hong Kong as its new headquarters.

In January, HSBC moved its chief executive’s office to Hong Kong but the bank has consistently denied it wants to shift its HQ. “I want to be crystal clear. Our preference is to be headquartered in the UK,” Mr Gulliver reiterated yesterday.

The Commission on Banking was appointed by the coalition government to examine a range of issues in the banking market, including the risks inherent in universal bank structures and competition in retail and business banking. Chaired by Sir John Vickers, the former head of the Office of Fair Trading, the commission is expected to give more detail on its focus by the end of this month.

汇丰银行(HSBC)表示，如果英国政府任命的银行业委员会(Commission on Banking)决定大型金融集团应被拆分的话，它很可能会将总部迁至国外。这是英国银行业迄今给出的最清晰的警告。

汇丰投资银行负责人欧智华(Stuart Gulliver)昨天表示，他“真的担心”该委员会建议像汇丰银行这样的综合性银行将他们的商业银行业务与风险更高的投资银行活动拆分开。欧智华目前看来最有可能继任纪勤(Michael Geoghegan)出任汇丰首席执行官。

“委员会无疑有可能会提出分拆这些银行的建议，”欧智华在一个由日本银行野村(Nomura)资助的会议上表示。“显然，（那）对于我们选择在哪里设置机构总部有着重大影响。”

在他发表这番言论前，巴克莱(Barclays)和渣打银行(Standard Chartered)在上月曾更隐晦地暗示，如果被威胁拆分，那么可能会把总部迁去亚洲或美国。如果搬迁总部的话，汇丰银行几乎将肯定选择香港。

汇丰银行在1月份将其首席执行官办公室迁至香港，但该银行始终否认想要转移其总部。“我想说得极其明白。我们目前选择将总部设在英国，”欧智华昨天重申。

英国银行业委员会由联合政府任命，目的是审查银行业市场中的一系列问题，包括综合性银行结构固有的风险，以及零售和公司银行业内的竞争。前公平贸易办公室(Office of Fair Trading)负责人约翰?维克斯爵士(Sir John Vickers)出任该委员会主席。预计委员会将在本月底提出更多其专注内容的细节。

译者/李裕