HSBC Suspends Banker Over Nut Job Climate Comments

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HSBC Suspends Banker Over Nut Job Climate Comments
23 May 2022
5 min read

News Synopsis

A senior executive at HSBC has reportedly been suspended after accusing central bankers and other authorities of misrepresenting the financial consequences of climate change. "There's always some nut job telling me about the end of the world," Stuart Kirk, a senior in the bank's ethical investing division, said last week. HSBC CEO Noel Quinn expressed his displeasure with the comments on social media over the weekend.

Mr. Kirk was reportedly suspended, but the company declined to comment. According to the Financial Times, Mr. Kirk, who is the global head of responsible investment at the bank's asset management division, has been suspended pending an investigation into a speech he gave at an event last week. His job entails analysing the impact of investments on environmental, social, and governance challenges, and he is headquartered in London.

After giving a presentation headlined "Why investors should not worry about climate risk" at a conference on Thursday, HSBC was under pressure to fire Mr. Kirk. He downplayed the dangers of massive floods in his speech, saying that he had to spend his time "looking at something that will happen in 20 or 30 years."

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