Rebel shareholders demand HSBC revive dividend and slash management pay
- HSBC, Standard Chartered axed dividend after request from UK regulators last week
- Shareholder group also called for investor representative on the bank’s board of directors
Incensed by HSBC’s decision to cancel its dividend at the request of regulators last week, a group of more than 3,000 investors in Hong Kong demanded on Monday that the lender reinstate its final payout for 2019 and instead eliminate compensation for top management for a year.
From retirees to large pension funds, cutting the cash dividend has been particularly harsh for Hong Kong investors, who have come to rely on it as a steady source of income. About a third of the bank’s shareholders in Hong Kong are retail investors and its shares are a common gift for graduates and newlyweds.
Shareholders wiped about US$15 billion off the bank’s market capitalisation over three days last week. The bank’s shares, however, rose 2.8 per cent to close at HK$38.95 in Hong Kong on Monday.
“I bought HSBC shares because it always pays a high dividend,” said a shareholder who only gave her surname as Wong at a media briefing on Monday. “I bought 10,000 shares on February 27 after it announced its fourth dividend. But on April 1, it said the payment is cancelled. How can a big bank lie to a small shareholder like me?”
Wong, who cried during Monday’s press conference, said she owns 20,000 HSBC shares, which would have entitled her to a cash payout of US$4,200 (HK$32,760) had the final interim dividend not been cancelled.