HSBC’s largest shareholder Ping An has doubled down on its campaign to break the bank up, rejecting executives’ recent arguments that a split would take too long, cost too much and damage earnings from its global network.
Chinese insurer Ping An, which owns 8.4 per cent of the stock, claims that a spin-off of its Asian business would create between $25bn and $35bn of additional market value by releasing its lucrative Hong Kong operations from the drag of the rest of the world, where HSBC is far less profitable, according to a person familiar with its thinking.
Analysts at Ping An believe that a break up could release the lender from $8bn in additional capital requirements imposed on so-called global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), the person said.