The head of responsible investing at HSBC Asset Management has resigned after a provocative speech that accused politicians of overestimating the financial risks of climate change.
Stuart Kirk told a Financial Times event in May that central bankers were seeking to “get beyond the next guy’s hyperbole” with their dire warnings about the threat to investors and banks from global warming.
The speech, titled “Why investors shouldn’t worry about climate risk”, drew public criticism from HSBC, which suspended Kirk pending an internal investigation.
On Thursday, he announced on LinkedIn that he was leaving the bank, insisting there was “no place for virtue signaling in finance” and adding: “If companies believe in diversity and expression, they need to walk the talk. A culture of cancellation destroys wealth and progress.
Kirk, who was publicly reprimanded by HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn and head of wealth and personal banking Nuno Matos, said: “Ironically, given my position, I concluded that the bank’s behavior towards me after my speech at a Financial Times conference in May made my position unsustainable.
HSBC declined to comment.
Kirk’s removal sparked an industry-wide debate about the rise of environmental, social and governance investing. HSBC’s handling of the incident drew the ire of US Republicans, with Senator Steve Daines warning that “the episode may involve violations of US law”.
Speaking at the FT event, Kirk said that throughout his 25-year career in the financial industry, “there was always someone crazy telling me about the end of the world”, likening the climate crisis to the Y2K bug he predicted a widespread computer bug at the turn of the millennium.
“Unsubstantiated, shrill, biased, self-serving, apocalyptic warnings are ALWAYS wrong,” he wrote on a slide accompanying his presentation.
Kirk said he is planning a new venture with “a group of like-minded people” that he will announce later in the year.
He added: “May I take this opportunity to thank the tens of thousands of people—from CEOs and congressmen to academics and mom-and-pop investors—who have contacted me from around the world offering their support and solidarity over the past two of the month.”
Kirk is a former FT journalist who worked at Deutsche Bank and its asset management business DWS before joining HSBC AM in 2020.
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