"We really don't want to have another situation similar to the Lehman crisis in China," Wong said, referring to the collapse of the US bank that helped trigger the global financial crisis in 2008. China has stepped up opening its giant financial industry amid a bruising trade war with the United States. Earlier this month, regulators announced a firm timetable to fully open its futures, brokerage and mutual fund sectors to foreign investors in 2020.

Wong said relaxed foreign ownership rules are very important for HSBC, which, in addition to its banking business, also owns insurance, asset management and brokerage ventures in China. But other regulations also need to be relaxed, he said, for example to allow HSBC to expand its insurance business more easily into new cities and provinces in China.

Copyright Reuters, 2019