The CEO of HSBC, Stuart Gulliver, confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg Television that a thousand jobs in its investment banking business in London should be moved to Paris, with the release of the United Kingdom from the single market with Brexit …
When asked for the Swiss ski resort of Davos on the sidelines of the forum of world leaders, Mr. Gulliver said that among the various departments of the bank in the UK is its investment activity on world markets would be affected by the release from the single market by Brexit confirmed on Tuesday by the Prime Minister Theresa May.
“There is what we call the global banking and markets, and that is why I have said publicly, there is already a time, there would be a thousand jobs that are covered by EU legislation and that, in the context of access to the single market, should probably go to France in our case, “HSBC boss explained according to a transcript of the interview sent Wednesday.
Asked about the possibility for HSBC to move these activities elsewhere in the European Union, for example in Dublin or Lisbon, Mr Gulliver was adamant: “We bought Credit Commercial de France in 2002, so we have a universal banking service in France. So for us, it is France. ”
Mr Gulliver added, however, that the bank did not need to “hurry” to do so. The bank employs about 9,500 employees in France.
He said the activity concerned may be moved about 20% of revenues from its investment bank based in the UK, adding that the activities in foreign exchange, bond and share should not be affected.
Apart from its activities in the markets, HSBC has the UK two other entities, it will not change despite the Brexit: global headquarters, HSBC decided to maintain in London, and his bank retail customers specifically charged British.
Mr. Gulliver was also questioned on whether a Marine Le Pen victory in the presidential election in France could push him to change his mind.
“We would answer this question only if that happened,” he said, adding that the bank would be so “entirely positive” a victory of François Fillon or Emmanuel Macron.
