Update | Regulation and business development cited by HSBC as reasons for staying in London rather than moving to Hong Kong

HSBC’s Asia-Pacific chief says regulation and business development led the banking giant to decide against moving its headquarters back to Hong Kong, but it was still committed to the city.

Peter Wong Tung-shun, its Asia-Pacific chief executive, told the South China Morning Post on Monday the bank’s decision on Sunday not to transfer the headquarters to Hong Kong from London was not influenced by the Mong Kok riot last week.

“In fact, the UK has also had riots previously,” Wong said. “We studied whether we should move the headquarters to Hong Kong, starting 10 months ago when the UK implemented increasingly tougher regulations. However, after a 10-month study, we found that the regulatory requirements in the UK and Hong Kong were similar.”

He said HSBC’s business strategy of having its headquarters in Britain and its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong had the advantage of facilitating international flows and cross-border deals such as ChemChina’s acquisition of Swiss seed company Syngenta, where HSBC was the lead adviser.

“We are very familiar with both the Chinese companies and European regulation, which allows us to capture these cross-border transactions,” he said. “The decision won’t affect our commitment to Hong Kong, China and Asia, which in past years have contributed to our global business.”