(13 July 2015 – United Kingdom) Two of the United Kingdom’s biggest international banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered stand to save more than £1 billion (A$2.06 billion) less in tax a year thanks to the summer budget.
The estimates by analysts show that the restructure of bank levies and the introduction of a new 8 percent surcharge on bank profits would hit HSBC and Standard Chartered less than other UK banks.
Both HSBC and Standard Chartered conduct most of their business outside the UK and have weighed up moving their headquarters from London.
Analysts at United States investment bank Morgan Stanley, concluded that of the major UK banks, Lloyds would suffer most, with a 7 percent hit to profits in 2017 and 4 percent in the longer term.
For HSBC there is no immediate impact but in the longer term it will see a 6 percent improvement, while Morgan Stanley analysts found that Standard Chartered would get a 15 percent boost.
The analysts also warned that the 8 percent surcharge could result in increased costs of borrowing for households and businesses.
“It’s worth bearing in mind that over time, this impact may be mitigated by repricing of domestic loans, given all bank profits will be subject to the same surcharge,” Morgan Stanley analysts said.