LONDON (Reuters) – Hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies has made a 672 million pound ($835.43 million) bet against the shares of HSBC, a regulatory filing showed.
The hedge fund, spun out from Credit Suisse, has taken a short position in HSBC shares worth 0.57% of the lender’s market capitalisation, the filing with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority shows.
A spokesperson for HSBC declined to comment, while Qube did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
The bet, which made on Tuesday according to the filing, is one of the larger negative positions taken against big British banks in recent years according to the FCA data. It comes after HSBC reported disappointing third-quarter profits amid losses from its China real estate exposure.
A short position is a bet that a company’s stock price will decline.
FCA rules require investors to disclose to it short positions in stocks when they reach 0.2% of a company’s outstanding stock, albeit the watchdog earlier this year relaxed a requirement for short sellers to announce such positions publicly.
The short position was first reported by the Financial Times on Friday.
($1 = 0.8044 pounds)
(Reporting by Lawrence White, Editing by Louise Heavens)
