HSBC faces pay pressure and dividend fears from investors

London

PAY is not the only thing HSBC investors will challenge executives over at Friday's annual meeting in London. Calls for reassurance on dividends, Chinese expansion and succession planning are all set to feature.

Concerns about moving to Asia, which dominated last year's event, have been replaced by a litany of fresh worries, topped by fears about whether an 8 per cent dividend yield can be sustained as the global economy stalls. "Owners of the stock need to be aware that there is a very high probability that HSBC is going to have to cut its dividend in the next 12 to 18 months," said Ian Tabberer, a fund manager at Henderson Global Investors, which holds HSBC shares. "They (HSBC) appear to jump head first into markets where supply of capital is increasing, the price they can fetch comes down and they end up hurting themselves," he said, referring to a push into mainland China, under HSBC's "Asia Pivot" strategy.