Running from home: StanChart Great City Race back for 2020 July 14, 2020 One of the City calendar’s highlights will still go ahead this year – albeit in a new, remote format. The Standard Chartered Great City Race will be held on Tuesday 21st July, with entrants running from home or around their homes rather than around the landmarks of the City and the Square Mile. This year, [...]
HSBC shares tumble as US mulls Hong Kong crackdown July 8, 2020 HSBC shares have tumbled four per cent after advisers to the US government said they could undermine the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US dollar and crack down on banks in the city. The UK and Hong Kong-focused bank has been caught up in a geopolitical struggle over the semi-autonomous city which has seen [...]
Construction sector rebounds sharply as UK reopens July 6, 2020 The UK construction sector beat expectations and returned to solid growth in June as coronavirus lockdown measures were eased further, according to a survey. The closely watched IHS Markit/Cips construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) surged to 55.3 in June from May’s severely weak reading of 28.9. It was the fastest pace of expansion since July [...]
‘Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times’ slogan deemed illegal July 3, 2020 The popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” has been deemed illegal by the city’s government. Hong Kong has said the slogan is separatist, becoming a crime covered under the new national security law imposed by Beijing. The saying is plastered over placards at rallies, clothes and accessories and written on post-it [...]
HSBC and Standard Chartered have put profits before principles and betrayed Hong Kong July 3, 2020 Increasingly, companies are being asked to take a moral stand on the great issues of the day. From clothing retailers to tea bag brands, every company is being asked where their values lie. While many organisations proudly broadcast their internationalist and liberal values in the west, some are willing to undermine those principles as soon [...]
Don’t sacrifice Hong Kong for bankers’ bonuses, Raab tells HSBC July 1, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab today criticised HSBC and other British banks for supporting China’s controversial new security law in Hong Kong, saying the rights of its citizens should not be sacrificed for bankers’ bonuses. HSBC and fellow Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered have come under fire from politicians in the UK and US after the banks [...]
Commerzbank fined £38m by FCA over anti-money laundering failures June 17, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Commerzbank London £37.9m for failing to have proper controls to prevent money laundering over a five-year period. Announcing its second-largest ever fine for failures to combat potentially illegal transitions, the FCA said Commerzbank’s failures to put anti-money laundering systems in place between 2012 and 2017 had “created significant risk”. [...]
HSBC’s head of public affairs leads pro-China lobbying push June 14, 2020 A pro-China business group is urging FTSE100 companies to lobby the UK government to act more pro-Beijing as relations between the two countries begin to flounder. The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) – whose members include HSBC, BP and Standard Chartered – has spoken to a number of high-profile companies, that have connections to China, to back [...]
How global markets will cope with a second wave June 13, 2020 Fears of a second wave of coronavirus have stubbed out hopes of swift economic recovery around the world, as the possibility of further lockdowns hangs heavy on global markets. While many countries seem to have a grip on the coronavirus crisis, the prospect of new infections in the US hinted in Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting [...]
Mike Pompeo slams HSBC for ‘corporate kowtow’ to China June 10, 2020 US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has criticised HSBC for backing China’s moves to limit Hong Kong’s autonomy, accusing the British bank of a “corporate kowtow” to Beijing. Pompeo said the US stood ready to help Britain with alternatives after Beijing reportedly threatened to punish HSBC and break commitments to build nuclear power plants in [...]