Update | HSBC decision to stay in London not affected by Mong Kok riot

HSBC’s Asia Pacific chief said riots in Mong Kok during the Lunar New Year did not affect the decision to keep its headquarters in London instead of moving it to Hong Kong and added the banking giant’s decision would not affect its commitment to develop its business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Peter Wong Tung-shun, the Asia-Pacific chief executive of HSBC Holdings, told the South China Morning Post on Monday the decision not to transfer the headquarters to Hong Kong was based on regulatory and business development concerns, and not the riot dubbed the ‘fiashball revolution.’

“Our decision of not moving our headquarters back to Hong Kong has nothing to do with the Mong Kok riot. In fact, UK has (also had) riots recently,” Wong told the Post in a telephone interview.

Wong said the whole idea of studying whether it should move the headquarters to Hong Kong started 10 months ago when the UK implemented increasingly tougher regulations.

“However, after a 10 month study, we found that the regulatory requirements between UK and Hong Kong on the banking sector is similar,” Wong said.

Wong said the business strategy by HSBC of having its headquarters in the UK and the Asia headquarters in Hong Kong has the advantage of facilitating international flows and cross border deal such as ChemChina’s acquisition of Swiss seed company Syngenta, where HSBC is the lead advisor.