Major sporting events are under pressure to cut their ties with HSBC and Standard Chartered over the banks’ failure to stand up for human rights in Hong Kong.
The Wimbledon tennis tournament and the World Rugby Sevens Series are among the events which have received letters from a group of MPs and peers urging them to sever their relationships with the banks.
HSBC and Standard Chartered, both of which are based in London but make most of their money in Asia, have come under fire for supporting a draconian national security law which China imposed on Hong Kong last year.
Sponsor: Wimbledon champion Andy Murray with his trophy after winning the title in 2013
The law has led to the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters.
The letter, signed by nine Parliamentarians including Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, former Green party leader Baroness Bennett, and Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, urged Wimbledon to ‘reconsider this business relationship’.
It added: ‘Dropping HSBC as a sponsor will send the clear message that Wimbledon will not tolerate an association with any entity which is complicit in oppression and human rights abuses.’
Last month HSBC was accused of ‘unethical behaviour’ by MPs on the Treasury Committee, as they grilled its boss Noel Quinn on why the bank had frozen the bank accounts of certain pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Quinn maintained that HSBC was forced to comply with laws in the countries it operates in, including Hong Kong’s controversial national security law.
HSBC and Standard Chartered declined to comment.
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