HSBC headquarters lions restored

HSBC has completed the restoration of the bronze and granite lions that had been defaced during protests and boarded up in January.

HSBC Hong Kong Chief Executive Diana Cesar, has told staff in an  email to staff that the lions will be unveiled for public view agaiin, today.

Protesters damaged the lions at the headquarters in Central after being enraged by the British bank's closure of an account of a group known as Spark Alliance, whose funds were seized by police and four arrested for money laundering.

Cast in England, the bronze figures in two different poses, were named “Stephen” and “Stitt” after Stephen and Gordon Stitt, who was then manager in Shanghai. They had been first taken to China for the opening of a new building.