UK financial reform could be delayed as banks scramble to avoid taxes

Rumours are flying that reform of the UK's financial sector could be delayed until 2015 - after the next election.Reports from the Financial Times and the BBC claim legislation could be passed to split banks' retail and investment arms before 2015 but not implemented until later.Banks have been lobbying furiously against recommendations expected in the final report of the Independent Commission on Banking, due on 12 September.The commission - chaired by former Bank of England chief economist John Vickers - said banks' retail operations should be ring-fenced from investment banking arms in its interim report in April.But business lobby group, the CBI, said there had been "a radical slowdown" in the economy since that report and implementing all its measures could starve businesses of cash.This was echoed by the British Bankers' Association, which said banks should be allowed to "finance the recovery first, pay back the taxpayer next".Business Secretary Cable said the reforms would go ahead but gave no timetable. However, he hit out at banks, accusing them of "trying to create a panic about something they know has got to happen". Meanwhile, there are reports that banks are searching for new ways to avoid costs by routing more of their trades and other business through overseas subsidiaries.Bloomberg said Nomura Holdings, HSBC Holdings and UBS AG were among those hoping to take advantage of lower taxes and less onerous rules on capital and liquidity.Chris Matten, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Singapore, told Bloomberg that Banks could record as much as 30% of the value of their trades through Hong Kong, Singapore and other jurisdictions instead of hubs such as London and New York without falling foul of regulators.The country in which assets are booked is where they are recorded for tax and regulatory purposes.If banks were to shift their businees in this way they could avoid some of the costs of reforms like the UK bank levy and a tax on transactions, currently being discussed in Europe."At the moment much of our European business is booked through a central hub," said Nomura's chief financial officer Junko Nakagawa. "As regulators become more localised, one option would be to place more business in a number of different locations." The benefit of booking business through hubs, such as London and New York, is that there are fewer counter-parties and it allows the banks to hedge their global risk holdings.The hubs are also capable of handling much greater volumes of complex transactions, raising questions as to whether other regions would be able to cope with big shifts in business.