#Oppression #NationalSecurityLaw
#HSBC chief defends freezing accounts of democrats as “legally obliged”

Following thr Chinese Authorities’ imposition of National Security Law in Hong Kong, the HSBC, the city’s leading bank has been criticized for assisting the National Security Police and freezing the bank accounts of pro-democracy activists’, such as #TedHui and his family and the Good Neighbor North District Church.

In a meeting scheduled on January 26, 2021, the Bank’s CEO Noel Quinn told the Foreign Affairs Committee in the UK that the bank was "legally obliged to take action" on accounts after being notified by Hong Kong police.

In a Facebook post on January 24, 2021, former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, now in exile, said that he has provided the Committee with detailed information on the cases where his and his families accounts were frozen.

Ted Hui added that any bank, business or institution that assists in repressing the freedom of Hong Kong people would have to pay a heavy international price and that he would do everything possible to make them face the consequences.

In a letter to Hui in early January, Quinn explained that the bank was "forced" to freeze the accounts at the request of the police. Hui, however, rejected Quinn’s explanation, saying he “failed to provide the legal basis” for the account lockdown.

Source: Stand News; #Jan25

#UK #ForeignAffairsCommittee
#NoelQuinn #FailedBank