“The fears for China’s economy are overplayed”, Gulliver said at a conference in London on Friday, according to the text of his speech.
October 16 HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said recent moves by Britain’s new government reflected a more positive mood towards the financial sector, as the bank continues to weigh where it should be headquartered.
Mr. Gulliver said the bank’s board has had two of four planned meetings to formally discuss the decision, which could see HSBC return its headquarters to Hong Kong after more than two decades in London.
“It depends on how long it takes for the board to get comfortable with the decision”, Gulliver said. He also predicted that gross domestic product would rise to about 7% in 2015 in line with the target set by the Chinese government.
Official figures next Monday are expected to show the Chinese economy expanded at an annual pace of 6.8pc in the third quarter, or the slowest pace since 2009. “China should and will continue to ease controls in a steady and measured manner”, he said. “[But] the fluctuations and stock market volatility have little or no bearing on the long-term trends around China”, he said.
Gulliver has been expanding asset management and insurance in Asia and focusing on regions including China’s Pearl River Delta to strengthen the position of Europe’s largest lender, reported Bloomberg. According to analysts at Citigroup, HSBC has risk-weighted assets of about $290bn (£187.8bn, €255.5bn) across the globe, which it would like to reduce before it could redeploy as much $230bn to support Asia and other growth areas of business. Shares of the bank have dropped about 14% this year so far.