HSBC is threatening to move its headquarters from the UK.
Douglas Flint, HSBC’s chairman, told the bank’s annual meeting on Friday that the decision to order a review into HSBC’s headquarters was a response to the regulatory changes launched in the UK since the financial crisis, reports FT.
“As I said at our informal meeting in Hong Kong on Monday, we are beginning to see the final shape of regulation and of structural reform, including the requirement to ring fence in the UK,” he said.
“The board has therefore now asked management to commence work to look at where the best place is for HSBC to be headquartered in this new environment. The question is a complex one and it is too soon to say how long this will take or what the conclusion will be; but the work is under way.”
The bank’s share price jumped more than 3.4 per cent after the comment.
As regulations overall become more onerous, it makes sense for both individuals and corporations to consider different domiciles, though urgency is dependent on sectors and professions. If I was a medical doctor in the US, I would probably already be in Mexico, South America or the Caribbean. If I was a just surfer dude, I wouldn't be sweating so much. A surfer dude can likely survive a large degree of totalitarianism, with little personal impact .
-RW
banksters do this, too...do you recommend following them??
ReplyDeleteThe Rehypothecation of Gold, and Why It Matters
Claiming to own X quantity of gold is one thing, and reporting how many times the gold has been pledged as collateral is another.
When correspondent Scott A. Batten offered to write an explanation of the rehypothecation of gold and why it matters, I quickly accepted. Like many others, I have breezed over the word rehypothecation with the basic understanding that it means assets pledged by counterparties (such as the infamous copper stored in Chinese warehouses) are reused as collateral/repledged--in effect, the same assets are pledged as collateral multiple times.
But beyond this, I have not had a clear understanding of how the rehypothecation of gold reserves threatens the whole shaky edifice of Infinite Greed, oops, I mean neoliberal capital markets.
Here is Scott's commentary:
Welcome to the games bankers play to make money. Now that this simple format is in place, let’s move to where the serious dangers lie.
Precious Metals:
China is getting ready to release their gold reserves. That is, they will do like the Fed and say how much they have. We cannot call them on their real reserves, because then they can do the same to us. Now, if all the gold is still in Fort Knox and the Federal Reserve, then the US can call for a real accounting and show ours as well.
However, if we don’t and China does, and calls for the US to do the same, then a lot of fear enters the market. There is a reason that people say "never own paper metals." This is that reason. You might get the value of that gold, but it will be in fiat currency and if things are crumbling then fiat promises become flat losses.
It's a funny thing about financial games; whatever the Mainstream Financial Media mocks as conspiracy theories often later turn out to be accurate.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-rehypothecation-of-gold-and-why-it.html