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The decision by HSBC to remain in London rather than up sticks to Hong Kong should surprise no one except for credulous Canary Wharf estate agents and anxious UK government officials. The bank says its strategic focus will remain on Asia. If so, it should consider reflecting that bias in its boardroom.
对于汇丰银行(HSBC)放弃把总部迁往香港而留在伦敦的决定，除了金丝雀码头(Canary Wharf)的房地产代理和焦虑的英国政府官员外，应该不会有谁感到意外。这家银行声称自己的战略重点仍在亚洲。若果真如此，它应当考虑在董事会成员的组成上反映出这一侧重。
Asia remains the engine room of the bank’s earnings. It accounted for 64 per cent of HSBC’s adjusted pre-tax profits in 2014, a 2 percentage point rise from the year before. Profits there have grown an average above 8 per cent since chairman Douglas Flint was appointed to the board in 1995; the comparable figure for Europe is 4 per cent. HSBC has announced plans to redeploy about a sixth of its $2.5tn balance sheet to Asia, especially China’s Pearl River Delta region, to further capitalise on growth there.
亚洲仍是推动这家银行盈利的引擎。2014年汇丰经调整税前利润的64%来自这一地区，比上一年上升2个百分点。自董事长范智廉(Douglas Flint) 1995年进入董事会以来，亚洲利润平均增长逾8%；欧洲的可比数据是4%。汇丰已宣布计划，拟将其2.5万亿美元资产负债表的大约六分之一重新部署到亚洲，尤其是中国珠江三角洲地区，进一步利用那里的增长。
Despite its eastward bent, HSBC appears to have just two Asian nationals on its 19-strong board. Both are non-executive directors. Other financial groups with large Asian operations have similarly low regional representation. Standard Chartered, which derived over 70 per cent of pre-tax profits from Asia, has three nationals from the region out of 15 board members. Prudential, where Asia accounted for a third of operating profits last year, has just one.
尽管倚重东方，但该行的19名董事中只有两名亚洲籍人士。两人都是非执行董事。其它拥有大规模亚洲业务的金融机构，区域代表的比例也同样很低。税前利润70%来自亚洲的渣打(Standard Chartered)银行，董事会15名成员中有3名来自亚洲。亚洲占去年整体营运利润三分之一的保诚(Prudential)集团，只有1名亚洲籍人士。
Last year, HSBC announced that it would bolster the number of non-executive directors. The result was more Europeans: Henri de Castries, of French insurer Axa, and Paul Walsh of Compass (and former boss of Diageo, a big player in emerging markets).
去年，汇丰宣布将增加非执行董事的数量。结果是新增了来自欧洲的董事：法国安盛(Axa)保险公司的亨利·德·卡斯特(Henri de Castries)，以及康巴斯(Compass)的保罗·沃什(Paul Walsh)——他是新兴市场重要参与者帝亚吉欧(Diageo)的前老板。
True, at the operating level, locals are well represented. A majority of the directors of HSBC’s Hong Kong retail bank are drawn from the region. But appearances and connections count for a lot in Asia and the lack of Asian faces in the group boardroom sits oddly with HSBC’s ambitions. As the bank’s board evolves — Mr Flint is expected to step down during the coming year — it would be appropriate for some of that talent to relocate to London.
没错，在运营层面，区域管理层中本地人不少。汇丰香港零售银行的大部分董事都来自本地。但是，形象和人脉在亚洲意义匪浅，在集团董事会中缺少亚洲面孔，与汇丰的雄心格格不入。随着这家银行董事会的演变（范智廉预计将在未来一年离职），把一些亚洲的人才调任至伦敦将是合适的。
