HSBC has urged the Government to use its ‘influence’ to help release hundreds of millions in pension savings owed to British nationals who fled Chinese oppression in Hong Kong.
It follows a campaign by the Mail, MPs and activists for the bank to pay out the cash, which has been frozen on the orders of Beijing.
Ian Stuart, the outgoing boss of the bank’s UK arm, said that HSBC would ‘have to break the law’ to release the funds, which are estimated to be worth nearly £1billion.
‘This is a really difficult one for the bank,’ he told MPs on the Treasury select committee at a recent hearing. ‘Because we would have to break the law to pay the money. The law in Hong Kong states what we can and cannot do.’
But he added that ministers could help resolve the roadblock if they exerted pressure on the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.
‘We are hoping that government influence may change that but, at the moment, the law is the law,’ Stuart said.
Frozen funds: HSBC boss Ian Stuart said the bank would ‘have to break the law’ to release pension savings owed to British nationals who fled Hong Kong to escape Chinese oppression
The HSBC UK chief is preparing to take up a new role at the lender as its group customer and culture director, reporting directly to its boss Georges Elhedery.
HSBC is sitting on £978million of savings owed to tens of thousands of Hong Kongers living in the UK after they escaped a crackdown on pro-democracy activists by China.
Exiles say HSBC’s decision to freeze their savings has left their finances in a precarious state.
The bank claims it cannot pay out the money, held in a scheme known as the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), due to a decision by Chinese officials in 2021 not to accept British National (Overseas) passports for identification.
This stopped tens of thousands of savers from withdrawing their pots early if they resettled abroad.
But campaigners and MPs want the bank and the Government to push for that decision to be reversed, arguing it has no basis in law.
Labour MP Yuan Yang, a member of the Treasury committee who quizzed Stuart on the issue, said the blocking of the cash by HSBC was ‘a major concern’ among exiled Hongkongers in her Berkshire constituency.
‘The ongoing withholding of payments is unacceptable,’ she told the Mail.
A HSBC spokesman said: ‘Hong Kong legislation sets the conditions under which a member may withdraw his or her pension benefits under the MPF scheme. Neither HSBC nor any other firm acting as an MPF trustee has any discretion in this matter.’
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