HSBC denies media report on debate over headquarter move

(Reuters) - HSBC Holdings <HSBA.L> on Wednesday denied a media report that the bank had revived a debate on moving its headquarters and said there were no such discussions under review.

The Financial Times earlier reported https://on.ft.com/3dKXM2H the Bank of England's call on Tuesday for UK lenders to cancel dividend payments restarted a debate among HSBC board members and executives to move its headquarters to Hong Kong.

"There are no discussions to review HSBC's global headquarters and no plans to reopen the issue," an HSBC spokesman said in response to the FT report.

Several of Britain's top banks have axed their dividend payments after pressure from the BoE, saving their capital as a buffer against expected losses from the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Separately, HSBC, whose biggest profit driver is Greater China, said on Wednesday it expects first-quarter revenue would take a hit due to the economic fallout from the outbreak.

(Reporting by Rebekah Mathew and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)