HSBC Maintaining Accounts With Sanctioned Officials, Pompeo Says

HSBC is maintaining bank accounts for individuals subject to U.S. sanctions on China while blocking credit card and account access of pro-democracy advocates, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an Aug 26 statement. HSBC is maintaining relationships with people sanctioned for “denying freedom for Hong Kongers,” Pompeo said, while restricting account access for Hong Kong-based executives at Next Media, a “well-known publisher of pro-democracy publications.”

China is employing “coercive bullying tactics” to maintain the HSBC accounts and urged the United Kingdom to take action, Pompeo said. “Free nations must ensure that corporate interests are not suborned by the [Chinese Communist Party] to aid its political repression,” he said. “We stand ready to help the British government and its companies resist CCP bullying and stand for freedom.”

The U.S. recently imposed sanctions on a range of former and current Hong Kong officials for helping to implement Beijing’s so-called national security law, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam (see 2008070039). Pompeo did not identify any of the sanctioned people still holding accounts with HSBC. The bank declined to comment.