P.M. Briefing : Hong Kong Bank Shifts Assets
From Times Wire Services
HONG KONG — Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, the largest bank in Hong Kong, said today that it is transferring its assets to a British company and will abandon its long-rumored plans to merge with Britain’s Midland Bank.
Analysts said the asset transfer will damage confidence in the territory, which reverts to Chinese rule in 1997.
Bank Chairman William Purves told a news conference today that the bank’s decision to transfer billions of dollars in assets to a British holding company “does not mean that we are turning our back on Hong Kong.”
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