HSBC to put HQ for UK ring-fenced bank in Birmingham -memo

By Steve Slater

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - HSBC is to base its"ring-fenced" British retail and commercial banking business inBirmingham in central England, shifting about 1,000 staff therefrom its London headquarters.

Britain's big banks must separate such operations fromriskier activities from 2019. The aim is to give savers greaterprotection and prevent taxpayers from having to bail out banksif there are problems in areas like investment banking.

HSBC will set up the head office for its "ring-fenced bank"in Birmingham, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday byAntonio Simoes, its UK chief executive, and seen by Reuters.

The decision followed a review of a number of locations,including London and other cities, it said.

"Given that the customer base, employees and branch networkof the ring-fenced bank cover all of the UK, London isn'tnecessarily the best place for the head office," Simoes said inthe memo.

HSBC confirmed the plans.

Banks are still working through how their ring-fenced bankswill be structured, and the memo did not provide any furtherdetails on how HSBC intends to set up the business or how manystaff it will have. About 48,000 of HSBC's global 257,000 staffwork in Britain.

Domestic-focused banks Lloyds and Royal Bank ofScotland want to include as much of their businesses aspossible within the ring-fenced entity. But firms with biggerinvestment banking and overseas operations, including Barclays and HSBC, want fewer of their assets to be kept withinthe ring-fence, industry sources have said.

HSBC's plans will be a boost to Birmingham, the secondbiggest city in Britain with a population of 1.1 million people.It is located about 120 miles (190 km) north-west of London

"The city is going through a revitalisation that makes it anattractive destination for businesses and our people," the HSBC memo said.

The bank plans to build a new office in the city. Affectedstaff are expected to start moving to the city from mid-2017.

HSBC's British roots date back to the city -- it movedheadquarters from Hong Kong to Britain in 1993 after buyingMidland Bank, which was formed as Birmingham and Midland Bank in1836. (Editing by Keith Weir)