HSBC not diverted by China-West spats, CEO says

(Sharecast News) - HSBC will not be diverted by short-term flare-ups between China and the West and will stick to its strategy of bridging Asia and developed markets, the bank's chief executive said.
The bank, founded in 1865 in Hong Kong, has been caught in the middle of heightened tensions between Beijing and the US and its allies over trade, security and human rights. It has faced fierce criticism for acquiescing in China's crackdown on Hong Kong.

Noel Quinn, HSBC's chief executive, told the Financial Times: "We've been in that role for 156 years. You're cognisant of those tensions, you try to manage them to the best of your ability, but you can't redraw the core strategy of the bank based on what is a relative moment in time."

Quinn said HSBC was not a political organisation and it supports all human rights and conventions. US and UK politicians have criticised the bank over its support for Hong Kong's security law, imposed by Beijing to stifle protest. China has also threatened to include HSBC on a list of "unreliable entities" over its role in the arrest of the finance chief of Huawei.

"We are the principal bank in Hong Kong and it has had a tough 12, 18 months," Quinn told the FT. "It's reasonable to expect scrutiny ... I still have a huge amount of strong, positive feelings for Hong Kong ... I will never walk away."

HSBC makes most of its profit in Hong Kong, which was its base until the 1990s when HSBC bought Midland Bank in the UK and moved its headquarters to London. The bank expanded in the US and Europe to become a global lender but has faced calls to scrap its operations outside Asia since the financial crisis.

"I do believe there's still a place for an international bank, one headquartered in London, bridging east and west," Quinn told the FT. "My evidence is my clients. Even in a year of low growth, geopolitical tensions, a slow economic environment, we saw an increase of 8% in the international activity" of commercial customers, he said.

Quinn, who got the permanent CEO job a year ago, is shifting HSBC's focus further towards Asia while pledging to keep its headquarters in the UK after a review in 2015. He is moving four of the bank's top business heads to Hong Kong and HSBC's US retail bank is up for sale.