Cancel Culture

EMEL AKAN is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times in Washington. Previously, she worked in the financial sector as an investment banker at JPMorgan. Emel Akan

Latest ‘Cancel Culture’ Victim

An HSBC banker quits his job after criticizing ‘nut job’ climate alarmists

Cancel culture is growing more prevalent in the financial industry, with a prominent HSBC executive being its latest victim.

Stuart Kirk, a top executive at HSBC Holdings, announced on July 7 that he had resigned from his position after facing backlash from climate groups. Kirk, who was the global head of responsible investments at the bank’s asset management business, had been suspended after criticizing central banks and regulators for overstating the financial risks of climate change.

At a Financial Times conference in May, the British banker said central bankers are inflating the financial risks of climate crisis in an effort to “out-hyperbole the next guy.”

During the presentation “Why investors need not worry about climate risk,” Kirk said that in his 25-year career, “some nut job” was always telling him about the end of the world.

“But what bothers me about this one is the amount of work these people make me do, the amount of regulation coming down the pipes” to deal with the financial risks of climate change, he told the conference.

The bank promptly suspended his job after his presentation received backlash from climate activists.

“Ironically given my job title, I have concluded that the bank’s behavior toward me since my speech at a Financial Times conference in May has made my position, well, unsustainable,” Kirk wrote on social media platform LinkedIn, announcing his resignation.

“Investing is hard. So is saving our planet. Opinions on both differ. But humanity’s best chance of success is open and honest debate. If companies believe in diversity and speaking up, they need to walk the talk. A cancel culture destroys wealth and progress.”

Kirk’s resignation comes as banks and fund managers are under increasing pressure to promote the transition to renewable energy and to stop funding the fossil fuel sector.

However, these pressures have sparked an industry-wide debate over whether climate change really poses a risk to the financial system. Researchers at the New York Fed found that severe weather conditions such as wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts over the past 25 years had almost no effect on banks’ performance.

From an investing standpoint, Kirk disagrees with the premise that climate change will create winners and losers in financial markets. He believes that renewable energy stocks won’t always outperform coal stocks since a variety of factors will shift the dynamic.

According to Kirk, the finance industry faces numerous threats that are more alarming than climate change.

People on social media responded to his speech, with some applauding him for his honesty and courage and others criticizing his “outrageous” presentation debunking climate science.

In his resignation announcement, Kirk said he’s embarking on a new project with “a crack group of like-minded individuals” to deliver “the greatest sustainable investment idea.”

“Meanwhile, I will continue to prod with a sharp stick the nonsense, hypocrisy, sloppy logic and groupthink inside the mainstream bubble of sustainable finance,” he wrote.

In recent years, cancel culture has taken center stage in public discourse in education, politics, media, culture, and business. Some large banks have also adopted the practice by canceling the credit cards and bank accounts of people and businesses in the United States, with the fossil fuel and firearms industries being major targets of late.

HSBC declined to comment about Kirk’s decision.

Prior to Kirk’s speech at the conference, the presentation’s theme and content were reportedly approved by the senior executives of HSBC, according to Financial Times. However, these top officials later distanced themselves from him, saying that his remarks didn’t reflect the views of the bank and its leadership.

“Our ambition is to be the leading bank supporting the global economy in the transition to net-zero,” Noel Quinn, group chief executive at HSBC, wrote on LinkedIn.

A Republican senator expressed alarm with HSBC’s conduct, questioning its legality.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) sent a letter to Quinn in June, asking whether shareholders, including asset manager BlackRock or any similar firm, pressured the executives to suspend Kirk’s job.

“I am concerned that this episode may involve breaches of United States law,” Daines wrote in his letter.

A Republican senator expressed alarm with HSBC’s conduct, questioning its legality.