HSBC has requested the British government to extend the deadline for the Ring-Fencing rule, under which a bank will have to clearly divide and fence its retail and investment banking operations.
Writing letters to Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England (BOE) and Chancellor of the Exchequer Mark Carney, HSBC chairman Douglas Flint said that the bank might lose billions of pounds amid Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe, as reported by Sky News.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Flint warned that a new probe into the banking industry could undermine plans for key structural reforms.
Sources familiar with the letter’s content was quoted by Sky News as saying that HSBC chairman has requested a delay to the 2019 timetable for bank ring-fencing, which was part of Sir John Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) report in 2011.
HSBC is not expected to challenge a recent announcement by the CMA to move ahead with a full inquiry into the personal current account and small business (SME) banking markets.
The bank, however, is fearful of CMA initiating call for structural reforms which would require it to sell operations, for which, it is already spending huge amounts in anticipation of ring-fencing rule.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataAndrew Bailey, the Prudential Regulation Authority chief executive, and Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee and Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), are also reported to have received Flint’s letter.
