HSBC Holdings PLC stock sank to a 25-year low as it came under pressure on three fronts, highlighting the difficulty of the bank’s geopolitical balancing act. It is caught in the middle now of rising tensions between the U.S. and China over trade and the status of Hong Kong. It hasn’t designated any businesses in this way yet, but China’s state-owned Global Times tabloid said many media reports had named HSBC as a candidate. HSBC has been present in China since its 1865 founding in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and runs the country’s largest foreign-owned branch network. It angered Chinese authorities when it shared information about Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei Technologies Co. with U.S. prosecutors in 2016.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 21, 2020 07:21 UTC