HSBC boss hid US$7m in Swiss account to 'protect' him from Hong Kong staff

HSBC Holdings chief executive Stuart Gulliver painted recent revelations that he held his Hong Kong bonuses in a Swiss account via a Panamanian company as a matter of privacy.

In the latest of a string of leaked data on the bank's Swiss unit, British newspaper said Gulliver held US$7.6 million in 2007 in an anonymous account in Panama under the name of Worcester Equities. The sum was reportedly bonuses he earned as an executive in Hong Kong.

During a conference call with journalists yesterday, at which the bank reported a 17 per cent drop in pre-tax profits for last year, Gulliver said most staff at the time had offshore accounts for their bonuses because those payments were not kept confidential in the computing system the bank used at the time.

The use of the Swiss account and Panamanian company were strictly for privacy and offered no tax benefits, he said. "Being in Switzerland protects me from the Hong Kong staff; being in Panama protects me from the Swiss staff," Gulliver said.

As a British resident who is domiciled in Hong Kong, he said he had disclosed all payments to tax authorities in those jurisdictions and paid all taxes due.

Tax experts in Hong Kong said that, if such disclosures were made by someone domiciled for tax purposes in Hong Kong, the account should be legal.