HSBC is refusing to pay out nearly £1 billion of pensions belonging to people who have fled Hong Kong due to political pressure from the Chinese government. The FTSE 100 bank is sitting on £978 million in savings owed to tens of thousands of people who now live in the UK. They sought sanctuary here after fleeing Hong Kong to escape a crackdown on pro-democracy protests and the introduction of repressive national security laws.

HSBC – whose initials stand for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation – is a big player in the Chinese market but has its headquarters in London and runs a High Street network in the UK. The bank has refused to hand over savings to the exiles claiming that a legal barrier prevents it from paying out the cash. The issue centres on the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), a compulsory pension scheme that most Hong Kongers and their employers pay into. HSBC and fellow London-listed bank Standard Chartered are trustees for savings held through the MPF.

Hong Kongers can withdraw their pension early if they have permanently resettled overseas. To do so, they need to provide documentary proof that they are permitted to reside abroad. Financially struggling: Single mother Chloe Lo says HSBC is denying access to her £57,000 pension savings. In 2021 Chinese authorities and Hong Kong's pension regulator said they would no longer recognise British National (Overseas) – BNO – passports as valid travel documents or forms of identity.

This was widely seen as retaliation after the Government said Hong Kongers with BNO passports could apply for a new visa letting them settle in the UK, sparking a wave of migration. HSBC's decision to freeze the pension pots has left thousands of emigres in dire straits as they adjust to a new life in Britain. Chloe Lo, a former journalist, says HSBC is denying her access to £57,000 saved in her pension pot over two decades.

Lo, 41, a single mother who left for the UK in 2023 to prevent her 16-year-old son from being sent to mainland China for 'national security education', told The Mail on Sunday that HSBC's decision to block withdrawal of her savings had left her struggling financially. She added: 'I had to relocate my whole life to the UK but am just about surviving every month after paying rent and taking care of my son. Under the BNO visa scheme, I am not eligible for any public assistance with bills.'.

Lo said not being able to access her savings meant she was being pursued for thousands of pounds of credit card debt in Hong Kong. 'I have an American Express card that had £9,000 of debt on it, but as I haven't been able to withdraw my pension pot to pay it off it has grown and now I owe £14,000,' she said. 'I would have paid it off long ago had I had access to my savings.'. More than £3 billion of MPF savings are being withheld from some 126,500 Hong Kongers who hold BNO passports. A third of the savings are under the control of HSBC.

Blair McDougall MP, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, said: 'We are dealing with tens of thousands of British people who have had their life savings stolen from them for entirely political reasons by a dictatorship. 'HSBC has refused to appear in front of Parliament and it appears to have been done through Beijing's diktat rather than any formal change in the law.'. An HSBC spokesman said: 'Hong Kong legislation sets the conditions under which a member may withdraw pension benefits under the MPF. The conditions for early withdrawal are a matter of law and are not set by the trustee company.

'There are significant penalties for non-compliance. Neither HSBC nor any other firm acting as a trustee has any discretion in this matter.'. Sir Mark Tucker, the bank's chairman, recently wrote in The Times that building closer economic ties with China presented a 'vast opportunity to British business'. Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.