Lai See | 'Humble Scottish merchant' writes to the Financial Times

We read with interest a letter in the Financial Times last week on the subject of the Scottish referendum. It starts, "Sir, I am a humble Scottish merchant trading in the China Seas. My family has followed this profession for almost 200 years. When we are bearing the sticky heat of China's Pearl River Delta or the tropical rainforests of equatorial Borneo, we dream about the cool, soft mist of the green Galloway hills where we were bred.

"By hard work our businesses have thrived and the St Andrew's Cross today flies proudly on some of the most valuable real estate on Earth. We are now a considerable offshore Scottish force employing 420,000 souls, and our reputation for Scottish good sense and standards is known all over Asia. For generations we have returned to our roots in Scotland, and improved our stony farms and enlarged our marches."

By now you will no doubt have guessed that the humble Scottish merchant is no less than Sir Henry Keswick, chairman of Jardine Matheson Holdings. He went on to say that, not wishing to become "aliens" in Britain, he strongly supported the "no" vote. Some British companies were contemplating having to relocate their headquarters in the event of a "yes" vote. But no such problems for Jardine. It would not need a repeat of its famous flight from Hong Kong. In a flourish of that "Scottish good sense", it will be recalled that the company redomiciled to Bermuda in 1984 and 10 years later delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange resulting in a particularly low period for the group.