“Australia has the potential to play a pivotal role in this evolution,” he says. “We need to seize the opportunity.” For its part, HSBC has moved its group chief executive (Michael Geoghegan) from London to Hong Kong. Bastow moved from Ireland to take up his Sydney-based role in December, although he had worked in Australia with NAB previously. He says that Australia also needs to continue to improve the efficiency with which funds managers operate. “There are still too many manual processes,” he says. “We’re working closely with SWIFT on mutual funds but there’s still a way to go from an efficiency and infrastructure point of view. Proxy voting is an area where Australia tends to lag some other markets, such as in Europe, he says.

But viewed from Europe, Australia is seen as a leading light, both in terms of investments and on the talent front, Bastow says. John Butler, HSBC’s head of sales, marketing and client relationships, who also sits on the ACSA board, says that while Australia’s tax system may not be the most conducive to getting extra business in Asia, there have been some positive developments, such as with the withholding tax on government bonds. ACSA was involved in submissions and discussions with the Australian Taxation Office on this and related issues in the past year. HSBC is one of the few global banks which did not receive any government assistance during the financial crisis and retains the highest tier-one capital rating of any of the major banks. Butler says that he is seeing more demand for new services from clients, with HSBC’s financial strength being an advantage.