Ping An was hoping behemoth profits from Hong Kong could lure investors away from the watchful eye of Western regulators and place a banking powerhouse under the control of China, whose government owns a piece of the insurance company. But it evidently overplayed its hand, and if it still wants to own a regional bank, it’ll have to look elsewhere.
China may have lost the battle, but it will ultimately win the war over HSBC. As markets in the West slow down, those in Asia are surging ahead, so it’s only a matter of time before Chinese shareholders have the power to demand their businesses be freed from the irrelevant West's oversight. Since nearly 80% of HSBC’s profits come from Asia, it makes little sense to have the bank's most lucrative division weighed down.