David Eldon's blog last week has attracted some attention. This is because Eldon is well-known as a former chairman of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp until his retirement in 2005 and because in his blog he dwells on recent events in Hong Kong. Like Lai See he rejoices about the absence of traffic, illegal parking, and noxious fumes in Central. But he goes on to say that the revelations about the payments Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying received from UGL might lead to pressure from Beijing for him to resign.
In an unusually frank observation for someone to have reached the exalted position of former chairman, he says: "President Xi Jinping has made very clear his abhorrence of corruption, and if there is the slightest unpleasant smell about this, what better way than to remove an unpopular official? The departure will not have been the result of student pressure … and should see the temporary installation of an altogether more popular person in the shape of Carrie Lam."
Eldon returned to banking in 2011 and currently holds the positions of non-executive chairman of HSBC Bank Middle East, HSBC Bank Oman SAOG, and is chairman of HSBC's Global Commercial Bank Risk Committee.
It is for this reason no doubt that HSBC somewhat belatedly on Monday issued a press statement: "HSBC notes the recent comments of David Eldon in his blog of 9 October 2014. Mr Eldon was commenting as a private individual and the bank would like to clarify his comments do not in any way reflect the view of HSBC Group."
This seems a pointless exercise, since we never thought this was the bank's view and it only serves to draw attention to Eldon's comments which it doubtless would have preferred he hadn't made. Indeed had HSBC not issued its questionable statement we wouldn't have written this.