HSBC Made A Laughable U-turn: Ted Hui

The exiled former lawmaker, Ted Hui, said he's received a personal email from HSBC's Chief Executive explaining why it froze credit cards and accounts belonging to him and his family.

Hui posted a picture of the email from Noel Quinn on his Facebook on Sunday, and quoted him as saying that the bank had “no choice” but to freeze accounts belonging to the Hui family at the instruction of the Hong Kong police.

The former Democratic Party lawmaker added that the HSBC chief had told him that bank staff were wrong to say that the cancellation of the credit cards was a "commercial decision" because in fact, HSBC had only frozen the cards.

Hui skipped bail to move to the UK via Denmark last month while awaiting trial on protest-related charges.

He said he was unable to accept HSBC's latest explanation, adding the fact that the bank took more than a month to reply was irresponsible.

“I can hardly accept the nearly laughable U-turn explanation given by the HSBC regarding my credit cards, from “a commercial decision to cancel” to “frozen only” after enormous public criticism... the international bank has put its customer service on the pillar of shame in its political toadyism,” he wrote.

The activist stressed there was simply no legal basis for HSBC to freeze the accounts, and questioned why his family was “collectively punished".

“Would it be due to the ridiculous conclusion that every member of my family and every single credit cards and accounts of theirs were involved with suspicious transactions? Or bluntly that this is a political retaliation targeting the whole family?”, he asked.

The exiled former lawmaker called on British and overseas parliamentarians to question HSBC on the matter, and urged governments around the world to consider imposing sanctions on the bank.