HSBC has said it may move its headquarters from the UK.
The company’s board has asked management to “look at where the best place is for HSBC to be headquartered in this new environment” according to a statement following its AGM.
The decision follows a turbulent year for the bank, in which it has been criticised for its private banking activities and been fined by US regulators following the LIBOR scandal.
The statement said that the repositioning of the financial services industry globally and in particular “the requirement to ring fence in the UK” had been taken into consideration in recent months when considering the position of the business.
In particular HSBC’s chairman David Flint said: “One economic uncertainty stands out, that of continuing UK membership of the EU. In February we published a major research study which concluded that working to complete the single market in services and reforming the EU to make it more competitive were far less risky than going it alone, given the importance of EU markets to British trade.”
The bank occupies the 1.2m sq ft HSBC Tower at 8 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, E14, which was bought by Qatar Investment Authority in December for £1.2bn. Last month it agreed to acquire land at Miller Developments’ Arena Central scheme in Birmingham for a new 250,000 sq ft headquarters to be occupied in early 2018.
An HSBC spokeswoman said it was too early to say how a headquarters move would effect the bank’s occupational presence in the UK.
