HSBC and the bank levy: Stuart Gulliver protests too much

The bank is entitled to move wherever it wishes, but not everybody shares the chief executive's rose-tinted view of China

Stuart Gulliver sounds as if he has made up his mind already. HSBC's chief executive says the bank's review of its domicile is an "objective" study, but he turned Tuesday's quarterly results into an extended whinge about life in the UK.

This country "has rejected the concept of universal banking," he declared, complaining that new ringfencing rules could undermine HSBC's control of its UK subsidiary. Then he warned that the UK bank levy made it "impossible" to commit to a progressive, upwards-only, dividend policy. He laid out the numbers: a 5% increase in the dividend costs HSBC $470m-$480m, little more than this year's $400m increase in the levy.

Related: HSBC to decide this year on moving its HQ from UK