No decision made on Hong Kong HQ move, HSBC insists

The bank, which more than doubled annual profits in 2010, was responding to a claim that a major, unnamed, investor told the Sunday Telegraph “we were told that a move is now more than likely”.

HSBC, which has been headquartered in London for 19 years, warned key investors that the full-year results, which came in below analyst expectations, made arguments for moving to Hong Kong “overwhelming”, it was reported.

But an HSBC spokesman said “no decision whatsoever has been made”.

He added: “London is ideally positioned as an international financial centre and we have been clear that it is our preference to remain headquartered here.

“However, we are routinely asked by institutional investors about the costs of being headquartered in the UK and it’s clear that the City’s competitive position needs protection.”

The loss of HSBC’s headquarters in London, although threatened for months because of the increase in financial regulations, would be a severe blow to the coalition Government which is relying on a private-sector-led recovery.

Last week, the group posted pre-tax profits of $19 billion (£12bn) last year, up from $7.1 billion (£4.4bn) in 2009.

But despite the hefty rise in profits, shares fell 5 per cent as the figure came in shy of the $20 billion (£12.3bn) expected.

Investors were also disappointed at HSBC’s move to cut its profitability targets owing to the cost of tougher global banking regulations. HSBC used last week’s results as an opportunity to hit out at the impact of the UK’s new banking levy on international banking groups.