HSBC said it had complied with all relevant rules and sanctions legislationHSBC is holding millions of pounds of shares in a subsidiary of a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary organisation responsible for atrocities against Uighur Muslims. The UK’s biggest bank bought £2.2 million of shares in Xinjiang Tianye, a chemicals and plastics company, for an anonymous client last year. It continues to act as custodian, meaning that it earns money holding the shares and is responsible for their safekeeping. Xinjiang Tianye Group describes itself as a “large state-owned enterprise in the eighth division of XPCC”, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. SponsoredThe corps is a vast paramilitary and economic organisation that is often described as a “state within a state”.

Source: The Times January 09, 2022 18:54 UTC