The HSBC logo is seen at their offices at Canary Wharf financial district in London,Britain, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) is studying the possibility of buying back some of its shares, its Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told shareholders in Hong Kong on Monday, against the backdrop of a sharp drop in the share price of Europe’s biggest bank. HSBC would seek approval for the possible buy back at its annual shareholder meeting in London on Friday, Chairman Douglas Flint separately said at the bank’s informal shareholder meeting in Hong Kong. The bank’s share price in London has fallen around 30 percent since it announced in June that it is significantly expanding its business in Asia by redeploying up to $230 billion of assets saved from cost-cutting elsewhere into the region. Since then a slowdown in China’s economic growth meant it has been slower than some analysts expected to redeploy those assets. The bank’s management said in November that it would consider returning funds from its cost-savings to shareholders if it was not able to redeploy all of those assets but could comfortably meet its regulatory capital requirements. Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Muralikumar Anantharaman
banks is reportedly considering buying back some of its shares for the first time in its history , once it meets all regulatory compliance requirements . The equity shares have risen 30 % from a year ago and are currently trading below the lender ’s asset value at just three times price to book , leading its management to consider this buy - back strategy so as to quell corporate shareholders who are increasingly unhappy with its share performance and mounting provisions for restructuring .