Chen Maobo: There will be no layoffs during the privatization process of Hang Seng Bank (00011).

HSBC Holdings (00005) announced last week that it plans to privatize Hang Seng Bank (00011) with a proposed investment of 106 billion Hong Kong dollars. In response to this, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po stated in a media interview that HSBC had informed the Hong Kong government before announcing the plan, and promised to invest billions of US dollars in the coming years. These investments will be used in areas such as customer service, technology, and wealth management development. According to the information they have provided us, there will be no layoffs. Regarding whether Hang Seng Bank will be sold in the future after privatization is completed, Paul Chan Mo-po stated that this is a decision for the bank to make on its own, but currently there is no such plan. It is reported that after completing the privatization acquisition, HSBC Holdings will still retain Hang Seng Bank as an independent licensed bank, maintaining its independent corporate management, brand, and branch network. Analysts believe that this indirectly creates "space" for HSBC Holdings to carry out future capital operations. If in the future Hang Seng Bank and HSBC Holdings achieve good business synergies and create better-than-expected performance growth, it is not ruled out that HSBC Holdings will seize the opportunity to restart the listing of Hang Seng Bank to obtain a more substantial increase in stock value return.