With a name such as The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and with the vast majority of its profits coming from Asia it might not be an unreasonable assumption that the bank should be seriously looking at a shortlist of Asian financial hubs.
Instead of moving its abode back to Asia, the region where its roots were planted and the place where it grew up, Martin Gilbert the CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management believes The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) will remain in the UK.
«The logistics of moving headquarters out of London are so vast I suspect much as it might want to move its headquarters, HSBC will probably on balance stay here,» the Aberdeen Asset Management CEO said to «Bloomberg News» recently.
Aberdeen Asset Management is HSBC’s sixth-biggest shareholder, with a holding in the bank of 2.3 percent.
A Debt to Asia
HSBC initiated a review of its domicile in April 2015 following a series of investigations into misconduct and the introduction in the UK of a new banking levy, which in the last financial year cost the bank $904m.
Aberdeen’s Gilbert has been a staunch supporter of the bank and has previously said he would support the board whatever it decided to do re the headquarters, although he noted in 2015 that no-one should underestimate just how challenging it would be moving out of the UK.
Frequent Speculation
There has been frequent speculation that HSBC could make a return to Hong Kong, where it was based until 1993. However, given the rough start to the year across Asian markets the case for HSBC doing nothing, regarding its brass plate, is likely to prevail.
