HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver says jobs will be moving out of London to Paris
We've already heard a lot about HSBC's plans to move jobs to France if Brexit negotiations don't go as the bank hopes.
But yesterday Stuart Gulliver, the lender's chief executive, confirmed it is looking at moving jobs accounting for a hefty chunk of its revenues across the Channel.
In an interview with Bloomberg at Davos, Gulliver said EU-based activities will move.
“Activities specifically covered by EU legislation will move, and looking at our own numbers, that’s about 20 per cent of revenue," he said – although he added that HSBC will make a decision "quite slowly".
And, speaking to Reuters today, the chief exec remarked: "We will move in about two years time when Brexit becomes effective."
However, he was more optimistic on London's post-Brexit fate as a financial centre.
“Irrespective of Brexit, London will remain a global financial centre, and the revenue impact of Brexit on financial services will be made good in two to three years’ time,” he said to Bloomberg.
1,000 jobs
Last week HSBC chairman Douglas Flint told MPs the bank was considering moving 1,000 investment banking jobs to Paris before the end of the Article 50 process if it looked like the deal being negotiated could damage its current business.
It's not the first time HSBC has made such a suggestion – as far back as February last year the lender, which is one of the world's most global banks, said Brexit would have a "significant impact on our non-ringfenced bank", and added that "a number of jobs would leave the UK".
Flight of the bankers
Gulliver wasn't the only one seriously mulling over moving jobs. In another interview at Davos, Andrea Orcel, the president of UBS Investment Bank, suggested it is also considering whether or not to move employees out of London.
"It will very much depend on the agreement that the UK will reach with the EU," Orcel said.
"But, yes, we will have to move bankers."
Video: Bloomberg Television