HSBC is in damage-control mode after a senior govt mentioned policymakers and central bankers had exaggerated the monetary threat of local weather change.
Stuart Kirk, the pinnacle of accountable investing for the financial institution’s asset administration division, final week in contrast predictions in regards to the unfavourable results of local weather change to “Y2K” theories that a pc glitch would trigger havoc at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000.
“There’s at all times some nut job telling me in regards to the finish of the world,” he said at a Financial Times conference in a presentation titled, “Why buyers needn’t fear about local weather threat.”
He added: “What bothers me about this one is the quantity of labor these individuals make me do. The quantity of regulation coming down the pipes. The variety of individuals in my crew and at HSBC coping with monetary threat from local weather change.”
Later within the speech, he mentioned: “Who cares if Miami is six meters underwater in 100 years? Amsterdam has been six meters underwater for ages, and that’s a very nice place. We’ll address it.”
Noel Quinn, HSBC’s group chief govt, mentioned in a post on LinkedIn over the weekend that he didn’t agree with Mr. Kirk’s feedback. “They’re inconsistent with HSBC’s technique and don’t replicate the views of the senior management of HSBC or HSBC Asset Administration,” he mentioned, including, “We now have quite a lot of work to do, and I’m decided that our crew received’t be distracted by final week’s feedback.”
In a comment on the post, Nuno Matos, the chief govt of HSBC’s wealth and private banking division, mentioned he was “in full settlement” with Mr. Quinn. “The transition to web zero is of utmost significance to us and we’ll attempt for tactics to assist our purchasers on this journey.”
A spokesman for HSBC mentioned it couldn’t touch upon particular person workers. The Monetary Occasions reported that Mr. Kirk had been suspended, pending an inside investigation.
In Britain, the place HSBC has its headquarters, the federal government has lately pushed banks and different monetary companies to report how they’ll adapt their actions and investments to assist the nation meet its emission-reduction targets and set up it as a worldwide hub for inexperienced finance.
