South China Morning Post (June 3)
“Hong Kong companies favour markets closer to home and in Southeast Asia to grow their businesses because of higher tariffs and other trade barriers in the US and Europe, according to a survey by HSBC, with many expressing confidence about their expansion plans.” Following the disruption of Trump tariffs, the new pivot is being “supported by Hong Kong and Beijing’s efforts to forge stronger ties with markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East as US-China trade ties remain tense.”
Tags: Businesses, China, Companies, Confidence, Disruption, Europe, Expansion plans, Hong Kong, HSBC, Markets, Middle East, Pivot, Southeast Asia, Survey, Tariffs, Trade barriers, Trump, U.S.
Reuters (July 6)
Canary Wharf has been no stranger to challenges and now faces a new blow. “HSBC is quitting the financial hub and moving to smaller quarters…. Hybrid working is an existential threat for commercial property.” Canary Wharf’s “pivot to residential and retail may only be a partial salve.”
Tags: Canary Wharf, Challenges, Commercial property, Financial hub, HSBC, Hybrid working, Pivot, Residential, Retail
Wall Street Journal (May 24)
A “candid presentation” last week on “Why investors need not worry about climate risk” created an uproar, for which Stuart Kirk has been suspended as HSBC’s global head of responsible investing. At the WSJ, “we understand why banking regulators and businesses that hope to make money off the coming tidal wave of climate regulation might be offended by his truth-telling. But he merely said what many in his industry believe but are too timid to say: Climate change poses a negligible risk to the global economy and bank balance sheets.”
Tags: Banking regulators, Banks, Businesses, Candid, Climate change, Climate regulation, Climate risk, Global economy, HSBC, Investors, Kirk, Money, Negligible risk, Offended, Presentation, Responsible investing, Suspended, Tidal wave, Timid, Truth-telling, Uproar
Financial Times (July 12)
“The banking sector hardly needs another scandal.” In just two weeks, Barclays has been sanctioned for market fixing Libor submissions, the Royal Bank of Scotland had a system failure which hindered customer account access, and now HSBC is being hauled in front of Congress for money laundering. “With the world’s biggest banks entangled in investigations, it is foolish to think that the industry, already scraping the bottom of the barrel of public goodwill, has put the worst behind it.”
