{"id":94435,"date":"2026-07-31T04:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/94435\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T04:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:42:08","slug":"letters-moving-out-of-hong-kong-would-be-a-bad-idea-for-hsbc-and-stanchart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/94435\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters | Moving out of Hong Kong would be a bad idea for HSBC and StanChart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or filling in this Google form<\/a>. Submissions should not exceed 400 words.<\/p>\n

In June, British media outlet This is Money reported that the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) has raised the alarm about the risk that mainland China\u2019s rising influence in Hong Kong poses to foreign companies. The think tank says HSBC and Standard Chartered should be encouraged to move out of Hong Kong and away from Beijing\u2019s tightened control over the city.<\/p>\n

This view merits attention against the backdrop of growing concern about Chinese influence in the United Kingdom. This month, the UK government nationalised British Steel, taking it back from its Chinese owner, Jingye Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This growing unfriendliness towards China in the UK and across the West could be exploited by populist politicians seeking to boost their popularity. Such pressure may extend to urging the two banks to leave Hong Kong or tightening restrictions on Chinese investment in the UK.<\/p>\n

The two banks are products of Britain\u2019s colonial era. They still enjoy a highly lucrative colonial premium that anchors their dominant market share and low-cost funding base nearly three decades after Hong Kong\u2019s reunification with China. They remain Hong Kong\u2019s primary note-issuing banks and settlement banks. Hong Kong has long been their crown jewel. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the two banks have reaped enormous profits from China\u2019s economic miracle.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Hong Kong contributed 32 per cent to HSBC\u2019s pre-tax profit. The city shored up around one-third of Standard Chartered\u2019s pre-tax profit. HSBC\u2019s recent decision to privatise Hang Seng Bank<\/a> was not only a strategic move to unlock cost and revenue synergies but also a clear vote of confidence in the Hong Kong financial market outlook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20667],"tags":[7786,8589,4571,255,40222,40219,22608,1772,9881,40221,40220,20677,6,4252],"class_list":["post-94435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hsbc","tag-andy-burnham","tag-beijing","tag-british-steel","tag-china","tag-china-strategic-risks-institute","tag-employment-ordinance","tag-hang-seng-bank","tag-hong-kong","tag-hsbc","tag-jingye-group","tag-ping-an","tag-standard-chartered","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117012761330660025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}