The spokesman denied that HSBC, one of the biggest banking groups in the world, is considering moving away from the UK for tax reasons, revealing that the bank is not set to review the location of its headquarters and major offices for another 18 months.
One of the benefits of London in the past has been a relatively good tax regime. The UK needs to be aware of that being one of its competitive advantages, reports have quoted the spokesman as saying.
The spokesman is also reported as saying that if HSBC decided to relocate to a setting with 0% corporation tax, it could save itself around GBP400 million a year. However, he said, such tax havens did not have regulators of the quality of the UK’s Financial Services Authority.
As much as banks moan about regulation from time to time, having your HQ based with a good and globally renowned regulator builds customer credibility. If we were to lose that then we would have a problem, the reports quote the spokesman as saying.
