By Louis Goss
The chairman of HSBC’s largest shareholder Ping An has said the Chinese insurer would support plans to spin off HSBC’s Asian business in warning the bank’s global business mode is “no long competitive”.
Ping An chairman Huang Yong warned HSBC is lagging behind its peers, as he called on the bank to “reallocate more resources” away from Europe and America towards its more profitable Asian business. In the first half of 2022, HSBC’s Asia business contributed 68.7 per cent of the bank’s global profits.
The Ping An chairman warned the “weaknesses, costs and risks” associated with the “global financial model that once dominated and shaped the global financial industry” have become “increasingly evident, particularly following the two global financial crisis in 1997 and 2008.”
He warned that geopolitical risks and “other negative impacts that are transmitted across borders” have continued to increase, as he called on HSBC to “plan ahead and think of what a ‘new global model’ should look like”.
“We will support any initiatives including a spin-off that are conducive to improve HSBC’s performance and value,” Huang said.
Huang’s comments come as Ping An’s first public statement in favour of plans to break up of HSBC, with all other previous calls having been made privately.
HSBC is currently headquartered in London’s Canary Wharf financial district and dually listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
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