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HSBC left off fundraising by China’s Ministry of Finance, first time since 2017
- HSBC has played a role since China returned to international debt markets three years ago
- HSBC says it has “good ongoing” relationship with Ministry of Finance
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HSBC was left off of a list of more than a dozen banks chosen to manage a US$6 billion international sale of Chinese sovereign bonds this week for the first time since the country resumed issuing international debt three years ago.
The Ministry of Finance issued a mandate this week for multi-tranche, US-dollar denominated bonds to four state-owned lenders and nine foreign banks, including BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered , according to a person familiar with the matter.
The biggest of Hong Kong’s currency issuing banks, HSBC was the only lender that participated in the country’s last US dollar debt offering in November 2019 not to be tapped to participate in this year’s issuance. It was replaced by Citigroup.
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It was not immediately clear why HSBC was left off the offering. A call to the finance ministry’s press office was not answered outside of working hours on Tuesday.
A HSBC spokesman declined to comment on specific deals, but said the bank had a “good ongoing working relationship” with the Ministry of Finance.
“As the leading foreign bank for G3 debt issuance in mainland China, HSBC is committed to supporting our clients and the opening up of China’s capital markets,” he said.
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