HSBC is meeting its top investors to hammer home its reasons for rejecting a series of criticisms from Knight Vinke, the activist shareholder.

Simon Robertson, the bank’s senior independent director, visited some investors last week and has more meetings planned for this week. However, some shareholders turned down his offer to discuss Knight Vinke’s allegations, saying that they did not consider them worth rehashing. Eric Knight’s investment firm had accused the bank of lacking focus, abandoning its emerging markets emphasis and poor corporate governance for allowing Stephen Green to move from chief executive to executive chairman. He demanded a review of the bank’s strategy, to be run by Mr Robertson.

In recent weeks the bank has announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank for $6.3 billion (£3.1 billion) and 10 per cent of Bao Viet, Vietnam’s biggest insurer, for $225 million. Mr Knight criticised both deals as investments in sub-scale businesses and said that he had secured meetings with 20 of the bank’s biggest shareholders.

Last week Mr Robertson told Mr Knight that HSBC’s nonexecutive directors unanimously supported Stephen Green as executive chairman.

One shareholder said that he had been impressed by Mr Knight in a meeting with Knight Vinke but was not inclined to support the campaign because the issues that he had raised were already well known and were being dealt with by HSBC.

Another said that he had seen Mr Robertson but had barely discussed Knight Vinke’s criticisms. “We don’t think there’s anything new or of substance there,” he said.

HSBC said: “Following the prominent reporting of last week's exchange of letters, it is to be expected that some insitutions might wish to follow up or clarify some points. The senior independent director does have a duty to respond to shareholders.”

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