HSBC plans to cut 8,000 jobs in the UK in savings drive

Blaming the Tories on this one. There's no reason why HSBC should be forced to pay the same rates and bank levies as other banks in the UK have been bailed out, while HSBC wasn't.

Waste of potential tax and existing jobs. Albeit I bet leftists will be delighted that a bank is leaving, regardless of how many jobs or pounds it stops providing. Yet again a clear example of higher tax rate = less tax revenue.

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Then there's also the political battle, Britain is an unsafe country for banks. Conservatives want a crack down on secret banking, Labour want higher taxes and Liberal Democrats are not only untrustworthy and unreliable, it also wants to do both above. The only choice for the banking sector is the Libertarian Party of 500 votes.

I'll be very surprised if Standard Chartered does not leave within this year. They also make 80-90% of their revenues in Asia yet are based here and pay excessive taxes.

Don't think anyone it to blame per say. It's just the decline of the west and rise of Asia. If anything the regulatory nature of the UK is an asset and hence why banks have based their headquarters in the UK rather than Asia. We seen from 2008 Banks need further regulation not less, they do have the power to create money after all.

I don't understand how that relates to my revenue point though. Yes, the profit/revenue available is higher today than 30 years ago, but the point remains that these two have always made 75% - 90% revenue in Asia, so there would be no point in them coming over to Europe.

They did, because banks were deregulated here. Now they're leaving because regulation is increasing. There's a balance in regulation and the UK crossed it too far.

Not necessarily, we are still one of the best in terms of laissez faire regulation but as i said 2008 showed banks cannot be left alone to their own vices. Banking is an industry which MUST be regulated.

But the banks don't want regulation and will leave when there's better alternatives.

Sure you may like regulation, but if all banks move to Austria for lower regulation, they will welcome them and their jobs and taxes with open arms, YET Britain will lose both alongside more jobs and taxes if there's another crash by an external shock and our exports and domestic confidence plummet.

Without global consensus, regulation is useless unless we're going full protectionist.

Sorry what are the better alternatives? other than tax havens. I don't buy into the whole idea of racing towards the bottom in terms of regulation and taxes. Don't buy it at all.

Many benefits to still living and operating in the UK compared to other countries, hence why so many high net worth individuals want to be based here. Them moving to Asia is just the decline of the west. Lowering taxes and regulation will just hurt us in the long run, like it did in 2008 and like the record debt western countries have.

So how did lowering the higher tax rate from 50% to 45% hurt the UK if there was an extra 3bn of revenue from that bracket?

Alternatives? There are none. Have to put up with it. Like I said, either extremely protectionist policies like Spain 1933 - 1984 to prevent external shocks affecting us and close ourselves to the world, or a global consensus on regulation.

Countries where the banking system is a major source of revenue like Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, San Marino, Monaco, Hong Kong, UAE, Panama, Colombia, Cayman Islands, Latvia, South Africa and South Korea obviously won't agree with this, so banks will move to them.

There's no point in being the first to do something. Cutting number of nukes doesn't encourage Russia to do the same, raising regulation doesn't raise regulation elsewhere, raising taxes doesn't work when people move to nations with lower tax rates. There is no viable alternative to the current banking system.

lol 50% income tax is very different to corporation tax. Most of those countries are small open economies and don't feel the effects as much as the UK (large open economy) of unregulated banking.

Lowering corporation tax rates from 24% to 21% has also shown a rise in revenue, so no there is no difference.

No surprise it is rebranding its high Street branches. After all the dodgy activity it has been involved in, its name is only slightly better than FIFA.

25000 jobs in total. Moving shift towards more profitable Asia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33058957

If all the banks leave, where will the best graduates of our world-class universities go?

Law firms, medicine, marketing, engineering, the army, journalism?

Will some of them still be here if the banks leave since many of them came here because they could get close to the banks for funding and work and stuff.