HSBC urges shareholders to vote against bank split

HSBC urged shareholders again on Friday to vote against resolutions backed by its biggest stakeholder, China’s Ping An Asset Management, to split the business in two and spin off the Asian arm.

In a statement ahead of the bank’s annual meeting in Birmingham, chairman Mark Tucker said HSBC had considered the resolutions "carefully and fully" but that such a move would destroy value for shareholders.

"Last year, and with the benefit of expert advice from third parties, the board considered a wide range of alternative structural options for your bank, in some depth," he said. "We concluded that the alternative structural options would materially destroy value for shareholders, including putting your dividends at risk.

"This remains our unanimous view today."

He continued: "Being global is how we generate a significant portion of our revenues and is central to our whole strategy.

"A restructuring or spin-off would mean that we lose this revenue as our bank would no longer have the connectivity which our customers value.

"It would create a period of uncertainty when our clients, employees, and shareholders would all be negatively impacted and distracted.

"And there would also be significant costs over a number of years as well as material execution risks."