HSBC looking at share buy-back

HSBC was reported to be looking at possibly buying back shares on Monday.

Chief executive of the Canary Wharf-based group Stuart Gulliver told shareholders in Hong Kong of the idea, as the share price of Europe’s largest bank slid sharply.

Separately, chairman Douglas Flint said HSBC would seek approval for the buy back at its annual general meeting in London on Friday.

The remarks were made at an informal shareholder meeting in the special administrative region.

Shares in HSBC have slipped by almost a third in London since June, when it announced it was significantly expanding its Asian business, using up to $230bn saved through cost cutting elsewhere.

But a serious slowdown in China since that announcement has seen HSBC put the brakes on the plan, with management signalling the possibility in November of a return to shareholders if it could not redeploy all the assets in Asia.