HSBC Investors Reject Special Resolutions On Dividends, Strategy

HSBC Investors Reject Special Resolutions On Dividends, Strategy
A logo sits on the HSBC Holdings Plc headquarter skyscraper offices in the Canary Wharf business, financial and shopping district in London, U.K., on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. HSBC has appeased investors with $3.5 billion of share buybacks, but after five years of declining revenue analysts are looking for evidence the bank is stabilizing its top line when it reports earnings Thursday.

HSBC Holdings Plc shareholders voted to reject proposals to shake up the bank that were put forward by a group of Hong Kong-based investors. 

Indicative results from Friday's annual meeting show that about a fifth of voting investors backed the call for HSBC to report regularly on the possibility of carving out its Asian unit, while 19.2% supported lifting its dividend to its pre-pandemic level.

With only around half of shareholders typically voting at such meetings, the results suggests that much of the support came from Ping An Insurance Group Co., which owns about 8% of the bank and has spent the past year battling with HSBC to enact a series of reforms, including spinning off its Asian arm.

HSBC's board had recommended investors vote against the two resolutions tabled by Ken Lui, leader of the Spin Off HSBC Asia Concern Group. Independent shareholder advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. also advised their clients not to back the motions.

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