HSBC pledged to decide whether to leave the UK within months on Tuesday as its chief executive said Britain had rejected the universal banking model that Europe\u2019s largest bank aspires to.<\/p>\n
Stuart Gulliver, the bank\u2019s chief executive, hit out against the chancellor\u2019s bank levy, warning it would end his efforts to increase dividend payments to shareholders.<\/p>\n
Stuart Gulliver also conceded the bank\u2019s reputation has been damaged and the morale of senior staff knocked by the revelations about the tax evasion strategies adopted by its Swiss arm.<\/p>\n
Mr Gulliver outlined a range of frustrations with being subject to British rule, and said Hong Kong\u2019s banking regulator would be perfectly capable of supervising HSBC.<\/p>\n
Speaking after HSBC defied expectations to report an increase in first-quarter profits, he said Labour\u2019s plans to raise the bank levy would make it \u201cimpossible\u201d for the bank to progressively increase its dividend.<\/p>\n
Ed Balls has proposed raising the bank levy \u2013 a deeply unpopular tax on balance sheets \u2013 above the 0.21pc that George Osborne increased it to during March\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n
This would see HSBC pay $2.4bn (\u00a31.6bn) a year on a tax that did not exist in 2010, when the bank last considered where to headquarter itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to make it impossible to stick with our pledge to progressively raise the dividend,\u201d Mr Gulliver said.<\/p>\n
Last month, the bank unleashed a political storm when it announced it was reviewing its London head office, where it has been based since 1992 after buying Midland bank.<\/p>\n
Gulliver\u2019s latest remarks, less than 48 hours before polling day, may help reignite the row.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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