HSBC puts on hold plans to transfer to Hong Kong

HSBC plans to stay in London despite the huge expense of doing business in the British capital.

HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver said the bank had decided to drop indefinitely plans to move its headquarters from London to Hong Kong despite the former’s punishing financial regulations.

“Although we talked at one point about reviewing this, it has been postponed indefinitely,” said Gulliver to a group of shareholders in Hong Kong.

“There are too many moving parts to make a rational, conscious decision.”

HSBC currently derives some 80 percent of its revenue outside the UK.