Chinese ramp up pressure on HSBC: Ping An in fresh call for a split 

The boss of Chinese insurer Ping An stepped up the firm’s attack on HSBC in her first public comments since pushing for a break-up of the bank.

Jessica Tan, co-chief executive of Ping An, said HSBC was a ‘significant investment’ and that she was keen to receive a solid return on the money ploughed in. 

The Chinese state-backed insurer is the largest shareholder, with an 8.3 per cent stake worth £8.6billion.

It began building its position in 2016 and has been this year lobbying for the sale of its Asian operations – a call that has led to speculation that politicians in Beijing want the sale. 

But Tan said: ‘It is a significant investment and we’ve invested in it for seven years.’ Denying that Ping An was an activist investor, she added: ‘We care much about long-term returns.’

Ping An wants HSBC to sell its Asian business, where the bank now makes most of its money, as it claims the Western operations are dragging down its performance and valuation.

Thousands of individual investors in Hong Kong, who own shares in HSBC, were also left furious during the pandemic when the Bank of England banned it from paying dividends. 

HSBC has been toeing a tricky line, as relations have soured between China and the UK.

In 2021, members of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee accused HSBC of ‘aiding and abetting one of the biggest crackdowns on democracy in the world’ after it supported China’s draconian security laws in Hong Kong.

HSBC said it was simply doing its job and following the laws of the countries where it operates.

Largest shareholder: Ping An co-chief executive Jessica Tan said HSBC was a ‘significant investment’ and that she was keen to receive a solid return on the money ploughed in

While a split of the bank would remove some tension, no other shareholders have publicly backed Ping An’s call. 

Analysts have instead pointed at the costs that this would entail, and the damage it may do to HSBC in the long run as the bank loses its ability to connect east and west.

HSBC’s bosses say their own plan, which has involved selling units in France and the US, cutting costs and expanding in Asia, will provide the returns Ping An seeks. 

And they have denied Beijing is behind the break-up plot.

But China business environment experts say bosses are ‘in public denial’. 

Michael Sheridan, author of The Gate to China, said China was desperate to get ‘the diamond bank in Hong Kong’, adding Ping An’s campaign was ‘the result of a top-level political edict in China’.