Banks could be forced to move overseas, warns HSBC head

Stuart Gulliver, the head of investment banking, said HSBC was "genuinely concerned" that a Government appointed commission would recommend that big banks must split their retail banking operations from riskier investment banking.

Mr Gulliver said it was "clearly possible" the commission will recommend a break up, which could have implications for HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered.

"That has significant implications for where we may choose to headquarter our institution and that would probably also be the case for the other two institutions," Mr Gulliver said.

"Our absolute wish is to stay here in the UK, but we won't know until we see how the commission responds."

HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan moved to Hong Kong earlier this year to be in the bank's key region.

The chief executive of rival Standard Chartered warned last month that the rationale for keeping its headquarters in London was weakening because UK banks faced being at a disadvantage to rivals.

Standard Chartered is concerned about the level of taxes and regulation in the UK.

Mr Gulliver also said he expects HSBC's annual profit in the Middle East, which plunged to $455m (294m) last year from $1.7bn in 2008 due to troubles in Dubai, should recover to between $1bn and $1.2bn by 2012 at the latest.