UK lawmakers call on L&G and Aviva to sever ties with HSBC over Hong Kong stance

MPs and Peers in London have written to investment management firms Legal & General and Aviva asking them to reconsider their involvement with HSBC over the bank's actions in Hong Kong. 

The MPs and Peers come from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong and the Treasury Select Committee - including Baroness Bennett, Andrew Rosindell MP and Siobhain McDonagh MP - and have written to senior leaders at Legal & General and Aviva asking them to reconsider their relationship with HSBC over the bank's stance on the new legislation in Hong Kong. 

The letters says: "We believe that the bank's support of the brutal national security laws (NSL) is fundamentally unethical, and we urge you to end your involvement...for the sake of all Hongkongers fighting for their freedom and basic human rights." 

Parliamentarians from the group have already written to the heads of BlackRock Investment, Wimbledon Tennis, World Rugby and The Open, asking them to cut off their business relationships with HSBC. 

HSBC has found itself under fire for freezing the bank accounts of activists in Hong Kong, actions which the bank's CEO was called upon in January to explain to MPs during a recent hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Noel Quinn told the Committee: "We are not in Hong Kong purely because of profit . . . [and] it is not a matter for me to choose China over another political system like the UK.""We are trying to stay out of the politics of one country versus another . . . there is no benefit to me or HSBC in walking away from the community in Hong Kong at the moment. It would only harm Hong Kong, not help it."Quinn added he was "not in a position to make a moral or political judgment on these matters."

Both HSBC and Standard Chartered have already faced criticism for publicly endorsing the draconian National Security Laws which were imposed on the city by Beijing last year and which have severely curtailed basic freedoms.

Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP and vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, said:"HSBC and Standard Chartered have demonstrated repeatedly in the last year that they care more about increasing their profits than protecting human rights."

"The Chinese Communist Party has totally disregarded the international rule of law and human rights principles through its actions in Hong Kong. Any organisation which would still rather support such atrocities than stand up for what's right, is supporting a threat to freedom and democracy everywhere."