The many musings of Douglas Flint: Highlights from the HSBC chairman
HSBC announced its 2016 full-year results this morning, and, alongside the figures, a statement from chairman Douglas Flint.
While shareholders have shown all the signs of not agreeing with his assertion "HSBC's performance in 2016 was broadly satisfactory", with shares falling 4.5 per cent on the open after the bank announced its reported pre-tax profits for the year had plunged 62 per cent, the outgoing chairman did have some other words of wisdom.
Regulation
Banks aren't usually one for a tightening of red tape, so Flint's views of Basel III, the latest round of international banking regulation, might come as a surprise to some:
"It was extremely disappointing that the regulatory community was unable to achieve its targeted completion of the Basel III framework in January 2017 on the consensual basis expected.
"Finalisation of the structure and calibration of the capital framework is crucial to give banks certainty over prospective capital allocations in support of lending and market activities. This is particularly important at this time when public policy is focusing on encouraging greater support for longer-dated assets, including infrastructure, and seeking to build out the capital markets of Europe and emerging markets."
Those with a knack for regulation were left disappointed last month when the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the organisation responsible for the oversight of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, announced it would be pushing back its meeting to discuss the key banking reform.
Brexit
HSBC has always been rather vocal about what Brexit means for its business, remarking even before the referendum had taken place that a Leave decision could force it to move up to 1,000 jobs out of London to Paris. Flint and chief executive Stuart Gulliver repeated this 1,000 figure last month, and it was in Flint's statement again this morning.
"We welcomed, however, the additional clarity given to the government’s position in the recent speech by the Prime Minister," Flint added.
"The scale of the challenge of negotiating across the entire economic landscape, as well as addressing the legislative and other public policy adjustments that will be required, has become clearer.
"We believe there is now, as a consequence, a widely shared recognition that an implementation phase between the current position and the one that is ultimately negotiated will be necessary; we strongly endorse this view."
Flexit
Flint provided much less detail on his own exit from HSBC, however. The bank has previously said that his successor will be picked by the end of 2017, but this morning, Flint's insight on the matter was: "This process remains on track and an announcement will be made in due course."