In a 2011 interview to Financial Times, Gulliver recalls his humble upbringing and his childhood aspiration, and said: "I wanted to be a barrister, but my parents couldn’t afford it".

Gulliver worked his way up in treasury and capital markets divisions,[8] rose through the ranks in the bank's Global banking and markets division,[6] and held a number of key roles in the group's operations worldwide; including postings in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and the United Arab Emirates.

He moved back to London in early 2003 to co-head the group's global corporate, investment banking and markets division along with John Studzinski.

He was also appointed the chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.

[23] A 2017 tax tribunal case shows HMRC agreed that by 2002/2003 Gulliver had become non-domiciled by establishing a domicile of choice in Hong Kong, despite having returned to be resident in the UK again, for what was intended to be a period of two years.

[24] The Guardian newspaper reported that Gulliver was a client of the scandal-ridden Panamanian lawfirm Mossack Fonseca, investing bonus payments through them.