HSBC’s Mass of Hong Kong Retail Investors Warms to Breakup
- Ping An’s push to split HSBC gains traction in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong shareholders are frustrated by slump in dividend
HSBC Holdings Plc headquarters in Hong Kong.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Smarting from HSBC Holdings Plc’s move to scrap its dividend during the height of the pandemic, the bank’s largely silent mass of retail shareholders in Hong Kong is warming up to the idea of a breakup.
Splitting up Europe’s biggest bank to separate out its Asian operations is being pushed by its largest investor, Ping An Insurance Group Co., based just across the border in Shenzhen. The call is winning support in Hong Kong’s retail base, which owns about a third of the bank, with some seeing it as a surefire way of preventing the steady stream of payouts from being cut off again.