匯豐高層應增加亞洲人才 HSBC:eastern promises

The decision by HSBC to remain in London rather than up sticks to Hong Kong should surprise no one except for credulous Canary Wharf estate agents and anxious UK government officials. The bank says its strategic focus will remain on Asia. If so, it should consider reflecting that bias in its boardroom.

對於匯豐銀行(HSBC)放棄把總部遷往香港而留在倫敦的決定，除了金絲雀碼頭(Canary Wharf)的房地產代理和焦慮的英國政府官員外，應該不會有誰感到意外。這家銀行聲稱自己的戰略重點仍在亞洲。若果真如此，它應當考慮在董事會成員的組成上反映出這一側重。

Asia remains the engine room of the bank’s earnings. It accounted for 64 per cent of HSBC’s adjusted pre-tax profits in 2014, a 2 percentage point rise from the year before. Profits there have grown an average above 8 per cent since chairman Douglas Flint was appointed to the board in 1995; the comparable figure for Europe is 4 per cent. HSBC has announced plans to redeploy about a sixth of its $2.5tn balance sheet to Asia, especially China’s Pearl River Delta region, to further capitalise on growth there.

亞洲仍是推動這家銀行盈利的引擎。2014年匯豐經調整稅前利潤的64%來自這一地區，比上一年上升2個百分點。自董事長範智廉(Douglas Flint) 1995年進入董事會以來，亞洲利潤平均增長逾8%；歐洲的可比數據是4%。匯豐已宣佈計劃，擬將其2.5萬億美元資產負債表的大約六分之一重新部署到亞洲，尤其是中國珠江三角洲地區，進一步利用那裏的增長。

Despite its eastward bent, HSBC appears to have just two Asian nationals on its 19-strong board. Both are non-executive directors. Other financial groups with large Asian operations have similarly low regional representation. Standard Chartered, which derived over 70 per cent of pre-tax profits from Asia, has three nationals from the region out of 15 board members. Prudential, where Asia accounted for a third of operating profits last year, has just one.

儘管倚重東方，但該行的19名董事中只有兩名亞洲籍人士。兩人都是非執行董事。其它擁有大規模亞洲業務的金融機構，區域代表的比例也同樣很低。稅前利潤70%來自亞洲的渣打(Standard Chartered)銀行，董事會15名成員中有3名來自亞洲。亞洲佔去年整體營運利潤三分之一的保誠(Prudential)集團，只有1名亞洲籍人士。

Last year, HSBC announced that it would bolster the number of non-executive directors. The result was more Europeans: Henri de Castries, of French insurer Axa, and Paul Walsh of Compass (and former boss of Diageo, a big player in emerging markets).

去年，匯豐宣佈將增加非執行董事的數量。結果是新增了來自歐洲的董事：法國安盛(Axa)保險公司的亨利·德·卡斯特(Henri de Castries)，以及康巴斯(Compass)的保羅·沃什(Paul Walsh)——他是新興市場重要參與者帝亞吉歐(Diageo)的前老闆。

True, at the operating level, locals are well represented. A majority of the directors of HSBC’s Hong Kong retail bank are drawn from the region. But appearances and connections count for a lot in Asia and the lack of Asian faces in the group boardroom sits oddly with HSBC’s ambitions. As the bank’s board evolves — Mr Flint is expected to step down during the coming year — it would be appropriate for some of that talent to relocate to London.

沒錯，在運營層面，區域管理層中本地人不少。匯豐香港零售銀行的大部分董事都來自本地。但是，形象和人脈在亞洲意義匪淺，在集團董事會中缺少亞洲面孔，與匯豐的雄心格格不入。隨着這家銀行董事會的演變（範智廉預計將在未來一年離職），把一些亞洲的人才調任至倫敦將是合適的。