Japan’s biggest online securities brokerage, Strategic Business Innovator Group, had no intention to withdraw from Hong Kong, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday, retracting an earlier confirmation made by another chief executive that it planned to pull out of the city.

British newspaper Financial Times on Monday cited chief executive Yoshitaka Kitao as saying in an exclusive interview that although ceasing Hong Kong operations would affect up to 100 employees, it was necessary because “without freedom, there is no financial business.”

Singapore and Shanghai were among the alternatives, while London’s status as a potential headquarters in Europe was also under review, the Monday report said.

Chief executive Jun Kusano rebutted Kitao’s claims on Thursday, saying in a statement that SBI Holdings had not “officially discussed any withdrawal from Hong Kong and no such decision is official.”

“It was to our surprise and regret that a Financial Times article … reported that the CEO of SBI Holdings Inc. planned to pull out of operations in Hong Kong,” Kusano said. “We sincerely apologize for any surprise and confusion caused by such media reports.”

The company would “provide proper and sufficient communication in advance with our clients and other relevant parties in the unlikely event that such a decision is made,” he added.

Apart from the Financial Times, several foreign media had repeatedly reported that SBI Holdings, formerly listed in Hong Kong, might become the first Japanese financial company to withdraw from the city. Those media included Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg and the Nikkei, which is the Financial Times’ mother company.

SBI Holdings was considering a withdrawal from Hong Kong as early as March next year, spokesperson Shoichi Okayasu told Bloomberg last September. The spokesperson said that Beijing’s imposition of national security laws had weakened Hong Kong’s attractiveness as a financial center.

According to its official website, the company established SBI China Capital Financial Services in 2012. Its businesses include investments, financial services and biopharmaceuticals.

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