HSBC shareholders have overwhelmingly rejected an investor proposal to break up the global lender, marking a victory for its management team. 

A resolution to spin off HSBC’s lucrative Asia business was only backed by 20pc of investors who voted at Friday’s annual meeting, despite it being supported by the bank’s largest shareholder Ping An, which has an 8pc stake. 

Ken Lui, a disgruntled Hong Kong-based retail investor, proposed two special resolutions recommending that HSBC review its current global structure and boost dividends. Both proposals were defeated. 

Mark Tucker, HSBC’s chairman, said the results “draw a line” under the debate about whether the bank should break itself up, adding that apart from Ping An, none of the bank's 50 largest shareholders voted against the board. 

Earlier at the meeting in Birmingham, Mr Tucker warned that if passed, the proposals would “materially destroy value” and “put dividends at risk”. 

He added: “Being global is how we generate a significant portion of our revenues and is central to our whole strategy.

“A restructuring or spin-off would mean that we lose this revenue as our bank would no longer have the connectivity… Our clients, employees and shareholders would all be negatively impacted and distracted and there would also be significant costs over a number of years as well as execution risks.”