归来吧！ 汇丰银行总部或迁回香港

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　　就在汇丰银行威胁要将总部搬离伦敦之际，一座城市被人们认为可能会成为它的新家：香港。汇丰银行（HSBC）名字里的H就代表的正是它。

　　Set up in 1865 and headquartered in both then-British colony Hong Kong and China’s financial center Shanghai as the bank that greased the wheels of British trade, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking¹ Corp. moved its headquarters to London in 1993 after it bought one of the U.K.’s top retail² banks in the early 1990s.

　　汇丰银行于1865年成立，总部位于当时的英国殖民地香港和中国的金融中心上海。它促进了英国贸易。90年代初，汇丰银行收购了英国最大的零售银行，并于1993年将总部搬到伦敦。

　　Its acquisition of Midland Bank, which had retail branches in almost every British city at that time, lifted the bank’s U.K earnings³.

　　米特兰银行几乎在英国的每个城市都有分行。收购该银行使得汇丰在英国的收益得到大幅提升。

　　But Hong Kong remains⁴ the source of the biggest chunk⁵ of profits at the bank founded by Thomas Sutherland, a Scot, 150 years ago. Last year it made up 44% of the global bank’s pre-tax profit of US$18.7 billion, while the U.K. recorded a US$56 million pre-tax loss.

　　然而，在这家150年前由苏格兰人托玛斯·萨瑟兰德创建的银行里，最大的一部分收入仍然来自香港。去年，汇丰这一跨国银行的44%税前利润来自香港，数额为187亿美元，而在英国，它的税前亏损为5600万。

　　The bank has a huge retail banking presence in the city, while its investment banking operations in Hong Kong have benefited from a surge in yuan-bond issuance in recent years.

　　汇丰银行在香港开设了大批分行。近年来，汇丰发行的大批人民币债券让它在香港的投资银行业务获益匪浅。

　　A big employer in the city of 7 million, HSBC had 30,000 employees there at the end of last year, accounting⁶ for 11.3% of its total workforce⁷. It is a joint⁸ sponsor of the city’s biggest annual international sporting event, the Hong Kong sevens rugby tournament.

　　汇丰是香港的主要用人单位。去年，在这座700万人的城市里有30000人是汇丰员工，占香港劳动力总额的11.3%。它还是香港最大的年度国际体育赛事，香港国际七人制橄榄球赛的联合赞助商。

　　Its Hong Kong headquarters, housed in a glass-building designed by star architect Norman Foster, also is a reminder⁹ of the bank’s place in the city’s history. The 47-story structure, the world’s most expensive building when it was built for almost $700 million in 1985, occupies a prime spot flanking the city’s legislative¹⁰ building, or parliament, with unobstructed views of the harbor.

　　汇丰香港总部位于一座玻璃大厦内。这座由著名设计师诺曼·福斯特设计的建筑仍提醒着人们汇丰在香港历史中的地位。1985年，这座造价7亿美元的47层大楼是世界上最贵的建筑。它的地理位置极好，侧面是香港立法会大楼，海港一览无遗。

　　This city with laws independent to those of the Chinese mainland also has one of the world’s lowest corporate¹¹ tax rates: at 16.5%, it remains below Britain’s 20%.

　　香港和中国大陆施行不同的法律，它16.5%的公司税是全世界最低的之一，低于英国20%的税率。

　　Speculation¹² over the bank’s plans prompted Hong Kong’s banking watchdog to say it would take a “positive attitude” to any decision by HSBC to relocate its headquarters to the city.

　　关于汇丰银行总部重返香港一事，有猜测称香港银行监管部门将对此持“积极态度”。

　　“HSBC is the largest bank in Hong Kong and has deep historical links with Hong Kong,”  the Hong Kong Monetary¹³ Authority said in a statement on Friday.

　　香港金融管理局在周五的声明中表示：“汇丰是香港最大的银行，与香港有着深厚的历史渊源。”

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