HSBC chairman warns of “Brexit” jobs shift
(22 February 2016 – United Kingdom) HSBC has cautioned that it could move up to 1,000 investment banking jobs from London to Paris should the UK vote to leave the European Union (EU).
Following its recent decision to keep its headquarters in London, HSBC’s chairman, Douglas Flint, told the BBC the bank had the ability to “move people between London and Paris”.
Flint revealed how the bank may respond to a “yes” vote to leave in the possible June referendum. The jobs that could move are outside the high street operations and largely in investment banking.
Stuart Gulliver, HSBC chief executive, later told reporters: “We have 5,000 people in global banking and markets in London and I could imagine that around 20 percent of those would move to Paris.”
Senior bankers have started to speak out on the so-called “Brexit” decision. Royal Bank of Scotland’s chief executive, Ross McEwan, said that the uncertainty caused by the referendum could “slow down banking”.
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