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By Sinead Cruise and Lawrence White
LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Britain's banks are reviewing
how they could fulfil legal obligations to hold an annual
meeting for their shareholders if the government follows other
nations in restricting large gatherings to contain the spread of
coronavirus.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which is due to hold its
annual general meeting (AGM) on April 29 in Edinburgh, said it
still planned to hold the gathering, but was looking at how it
could use technology to allow shareholders to participate
remotely.
HSBC said it was pressing ahead with plans for an
AGM on April 24 in London but that if the government changed its
stance on large public gatherings, shareholders could be
restricted from travelling or attending.
Both banks said shareholders could watch the meetings via
webcasts and vote in advance on the resolutions being discussed,
to reduce the need for them to attend in person.
Banks like all public companies are required to hold AGMs,
with the size of the lenders' investor base and the controversy
they have attracted in recent years over executive pay, climate
change and branch closures meaning hundreds of people attend.
Standard Chartered, which has its AGM in London on
May 6, and Barclays which is due to host shareholders
in Glasgow the next day, said there were no changes to those
plans for now, but that they are monitoring the situation.
Britain's government has not yet formally moved from the
'containment' to 'delay' phase of its four stage plan to combat
the virus's spread, which could include the cancellation of
large public events. The country has seen a steady rise in cases
to almost 400.
(Reporting by Sinead Cruise and Lawrence White; Editing by Mark
Potter)
