Foreign Secretary urged to intervene in HSBC pensions scandal
Updated:
A top MP has demanded Foreign Secretary David Lammy meet British nationals owed millions in pension savings by HSBC after an expose in The Mail on Sunday.
In a letter seen by this paper, Blair McDougall, a member of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, called on Lammy to meet members of the British National (Overseas) community whose savings have been frozen by the banking giant.
He said Lammy must 'discuss how the UK Government could take further steps to address this matter' after we revealed last month that Lammy had raised the issue with HSBC chairman Mark Tucker at a meeting last year.
The bank is under growing pressure to face MPs and explain its refusal to pay out the savings, owed to people who fled Hong Kong to escape a crackdown by the authorities in Beijing.
Concern: David Lammy raised the issue with HSBC chairman Mark Tucker at a meeting last year
HSBC says it is following orders from the Chinese government. As a result it is sitting on £978 million of savings of tens of thousands of Hong Kongers in the UK, leaving them in a precarious state.
McDougall said this raised 'serious concerns' about the ability of UK financial institutions to 'operate independently' of Beijing, in line with British law.
The Foreign Office said: 'We continue to raise this issue with both the Hong Kong government and Chinese government and have discussed it with HSBC.'
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