HSBC's chief financial officer, Pam Kaur, said the bank faces "no pressure" to move its headquarters out of the UK despite expected tax increases in Wednesday's budget. "We are very comfortable, we are domiciled in the UK and we remain in the UK," Kaur told journalists on Tuesday.
The statement comes as HSBC reported a 32% rise in third-quarter profits to $9.6bn and announced $2.7bn in shareholder payouts through dividends and buybacks. Chancellor John Healey is expected to reverse Conservative-era cuts to the bank surcharge, raising tax bills for the sector.
Lobby groups have warned that higher taxes could push banks to shift business and jobs abroad. JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said he could scrap plans for a new £3bn London headquarters if Britain became "hostile" to banks. HSBC has previously considered relocating. In 2015, growing regulatory burdens and a bank levy led HSBC to weigh moving its headquarters to Hong Kong before the government scaled back the levy to cover only UK-based assets.
Kaur said the bank would "just have to see how businesses and customers react" to the budget and expressed backing for the government's "growth agenda."
The bank's share price fell 5.4% on Tuesday, costing it its status as the FTSE 100's largest company. Kaur suggested investors may have expected stronger net interest income forecasts. HSBC's net interest income rose to $9.3bn in the quarter from $8.8bn a year earlier, driven partly by hedging strategies and Hong Kong deposit growth, while UK deposits remained flat.