The government must take banks’ threats to leave the country seriously or risk making the UK an unattractive place to invest says Mark Garnier MP, a member of the Treasury Select Committee.
Speaking to Estates Gazette at the Mayfair Capital Investment Seminar at the King’s Fund on Cavendish Square, W1, the Conservative backbencher said HSBC’s threats to change its domicile were credible given the tax and regulatory burdens which had been introduced since the financial crisis.
Garnier, who helped shape the banks’ ring fencing regulations, said he was worried at suggestions from the chancellor that the bank levy had become a permanent fixture, and the cost of splitting its retail and investment banking arms had proved particularly high for HSBC.
However, he warned it would be a mistake for the government to “rein back” regulations before they had been fully introduced.
