As he gave an update of the bank's strategy – which has led to 14,000 job cuts as he cuts costs to make the bank more efficient – Gulliver said the UK business would be subjected to his performance tests once it was known how the final details of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) were implemented.
Gulliver described the UK as essential for retail banking and he said on Thursday that the business was one of the best performing, describing it as a "home" market.
He is intending to achieve $3.5bn (£2bn) of savings within three years to bolster the bank's return on equity to 12-15%. It was 11% last year.
might even be a shift to the capital markets to raise funds and banks could move into the less regulated areas of finance, known as "shadow banking"
Banks need to meet the new capital requirements, known as Basel III and being implemented as a result of the 2008 banking crisis, by the end of 2018,
The impact of holding extra capital – about 23% more than their current holding of $2.5tn – could reduce returns on equity to 8.5% from the 10.8% average of the 29 banks during the period 2005-2011
in an effort to entice investors the banks may be encouraged to take bigger risks
29 banks will in total need to find $566bn on the assumption that these crucial banks need a 10% capital cushion
need for extra capital will reduce the return on equity
If the banks did not raise equity it would take them three years to raise the extra capital