HONG KONG/LONDON : HSBC's most vocal minority investors are demanding a vote at the global lender's 2023 shareholder meeting in May on whether it should devise a formal plan to boost returns by spinning off its lucrative Asian business.
"We feel it's the right thing to do by allowing all shareholders to vote on such critical issues rather than keeping it away from the voting process," Lui told Reuters. Ping An in November urged HSBC to lower costs by cutting jobs and disposing of peripheral non-Asian businesses. "We are supportive of the current structure and would prefer management to concentrate on maximising return on equity now that interests rates have moved up, rather than breaking up the group," one of the bank's 20 largest investors told Reuters.