The HQs moving

[PhilA]

Soon there will be more pandas in Scotland than bank HQs

(sorry to anyone whos job that affects)

[Claws]

Still can't see it happening. It would be at ridiculous expense for no reason. There is no money in the HQs it is all just numbers on a screen. Sensationalist barstewards.

[campbell]

Euro regs require retail banks to be HQ'd in the nation of their largest market. Therefore it's not the banks' choice. They will have to do it.

Std Life may perceive enough instability to want to leave. Why would they bluff. Apart from anything else, Stock Exchange rules require them to declare stock price sensitive matters, and by the same token they would not be allowed to make negligent bluffs which affect price, either.

[Fluoxetine]

Fair enough, but can't help but think that with around 50% of Scotland (at the moment) in favour of a 'yes' vote, they're going to disgruntle many of their customers.

If it's a 'no' next week, I wonder how many of these customers will be moving their accounts / mortgages / pensions etc

[Kelvin]

Very few. It's too much like hard work and if folk won't move their assets to save money because they cba then they won't do it to make a point.

All of this stuff is bluster and bluff. If yes wins then it will come down to what happens after and how the divorce proceeds.

[robin]

Move from where to where - which bank of substance that is currently based in Scotland won't be in this position? Banks have never given a sh*t about their retail customers, least of all those in credit and it's unlikely they will start now. Moving pensions, loans and mortgages is too much hassle and expense for most people to do on principle (to punish a bank, for example).

Campbell, I am not sure about the HQ having to be in biggest market, I believe the RBS wants to move simply to remain within the (existing) UK regulations and avoid any credit rating issues that may arise from the post-independence Scottish currency issue.

I don't believe they would need to move all the jobs of people currently working up here, though - there is no reason why the account managers and all the other customer facing staff can just stay here; it could be just a handful of people in the end.

Cheers,
Robin

[Scuffers]

that's a bit short sighted...

there will be a lot more to it then just moving a registration plate.

yes, at branch level no reason to make any radical changes, but consider that the branch network is almost a trivial part of banks these days.

if RBS and the rest quit, that will leave Scotland without an credible bank, and to put it bluntly, that's going to be a major problem (quite apart from any jobs that may or may not move).

more generally, anybody that believes Scotland will be better off independent is living in dream land.

[Sanjøy]

Last time I checked Alex had not detailed their equivalent of the FCA for their new world order.

[tenkfeet]

Soon there will be more pandas in Scotland than bank HQs

(sorry to anyone whos job that affects)

I have a Panda in the classifieds, rare beast.

[Corranga]

I guess it'll be to save them on shipping costs when UPS etc treat Scotland as 'international' and suddenly posting something from London to Carlisle costs 4 times less than Lockerbie..

[tut]

Good point.

tut

[BiggestNizzy]

I guess it'll be to save them on shipping costs when UPS etc treat Scotland as 'international' and suddenly posting something from London to Carlisle costs 4 times less than Lockerbie..

I had a barrel shipped from south wales to Stewarton (south of Glasgow) last week and had to pay a "highland surcharge".

[mwmackenzie]

Banks are not up and leaving after a Yes vote! They said in the news today operations and jobs will remain in Scotland even if they move their address to London... There's going to be sooo many scare stories popping up this week. I feel you should vote what ever way you believe to be best in the long run, not what you've been scared into... All politicians are full of crap and will do/say what ever they can to weasel a vote. England stand to lose a lot of revenue if Scotland go solo and they really don't want that... This society is so greed lead and money driven it's scary. lets all just vote what we want, live and let live, all get along and deal with what will be.

Have a nice day y'all!

[GBOBM]

if RBS and the rest quit, that will leave Scotland without an credible bank, and to put it bluntly, that's going to be a major problem (quite apart from any jobs that may or may not move).

more generally, anybody that believes Scotland will be better off independent is living in dream land.

Who said anything about "quitting"? A bank is a business and they will move to wherever is going to put them in the best place to make money. No bank worth their salts does the majority of their business in Scotland and anyone who thinks it is, it being naive. Just because a company is based somewhere, does not mean that's where their business is.
Think about all the foreign banks that we use in the UK. Do we deal with them any differently than we do a UK bank? Of course not and this will be exactly the same.

If moving to London means that they will be more likely to earn money and serve Scotland better, then as far as I'm concerned that's a good move.

[mwmackenzie]

if RBS and the rest quit, that will leave Scotland without an credible bank, and to put it bluntly, that's going to be a major problem (quite apart from any jobs that may or may not move).

more generally, anybody that believes Scotland will be better off independent is living in dream land.

Who said anything about "quitting"? A bank is a business and they will move to wherever is going to put them in the best place to make money. No bank worth their salts does the majority of their business in Scotland and anyone who thinks it is, it being naive. Just because a company is based somewhere, does not mean that's where their business is.
Think about all the foreign banks that we use in the UK. Do we deal with them any differently than we do a UK bank? Of course not and this will be exactly the same.

If moving to London means that they will be more likely to earn money and serve Scotland better, then as far as I'm concerned that's a good move.

My wife has a Mc Santander account