HSBC confirms PwC will take over as auditor from KPMG this month
HSBC will replace auditor KPMG with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) after the latter announced its resignation from the position as the Company's auditor from 31 March 2015, the bank confirmed today.
PwC's appointment will be put to shareholder's at the bank's annual general meeting held on 24 April this year. HSBC originally announced its intentions to switch auditors in August 2013, and today announced that there were no other matters that needed to be raised related to the change.
KPMG was unsuccessful in retaining a competitive tender for the audit, ending its 22-year association with HSBC since 1991.
HSBC, currently in the public eye due to allegations its Swiss bank abetted tax dodging, released the news to the London Stock Exchange at 12:30 – right when attentions were focused on chancellor George Osborne's Budget 2015 speech.
The switch comes after the Competition Commission decided to put pressure on FTSE 350 companies to re-tender their audits every 10 years.