Hong Kong(CNN) HSBC shareholders are expected to vote Friday on demands for a radical overhaul of the bank.

The London-based lender is one of the world’s top financial institutions, but its biggest investor, Ping An Asset Management, is deeply concerned about the bank’s future and wants its Asia business spun out into a Hong Kong-listed entity.

Retail investors in Hong Kong, HSBC’s (HSBC) top market, have also been calling for a breakup, arguing that the bank’s performance has been strong in Asia but weak elsewhere, dragging down overall value.

This will all come to a head Friday, as shareholders of Europe’s biggest bank gather at its annual general meeting in the English city of Birmingham.

Investors will weigh in on a controversial proposal that could force HSBC to come up with a plan to spin off or reorganize its business in Asia, which generates most of its profits.

“It’s always been in the background [like], ‘Could they do this?’ But it’s never been formalized in this way,” said Fahed Kunwar, an analyst at Redburn who’s been covering HSBC for almost 15 years.

“It’s never been a discussion that management had to refute as much as they are doing right now.”

HSBC’s leadership unanimously opposes the resolution and has personally urged shareholders to vote against it. The executives say such a revamp would not work, because much of the bank’s business relies on cross-border transactions.

Analysts told CNN they don’t expect the proposal, which requires a high threshold of 75% of yes votes to pass, to go through Friday.

“If the [affirmative vote is] like 50% plus, I think that will raise eyebrows. To be honest, even if it was 25%, it would raise eyebrows,” Kunwar said.

Based on his discussions with institutional investors, “there is a lot of confidence in management and the current plan,” he added.

Veto recommended

HSBC has said the board had previously reviewed options for restructuring the bank and concluded that such alternatives would “materially destroy value.”

In recent weeks, shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have also recommended that investors veto the proposal, citing a lack of detailed rationale and potential complications of separating the bank’s businesses.

But even if it doesn’t pass, an expression of high support for the resolution could pressure management to speed up efforts to create more value, according to Michael Makdad, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.

Makdad said a split couldn’t be taken lightly, as it could create tax headaches and a mountain of regulatory issues.

“If you’re going to try to restructure a bank across countries, every regulator will demand their own capital requirements for their country,” he noted.

Recent turmoil in the banking sector has made such questions top of mind, Makdad added.

“When the question of how banks are regulated is more under scrutiny, that makes the issues that they’re bringing up all the more salient,” he said.

HSBC’s strong earnings this week, which included a tripling of profits, restoration of dividends and an announcement of buybacks, also gives management ammunition for its argument that it’s on the right path, according to analysts.

Canvassing for support

But Ken Lui, an activist shareholder in Hong Kong spearheading the resolution, told CNN he was confident his proposal would pass.

In an interview days before he was due to fly to the United Kingdom for the meeting, Lui said he had held 10 meetings with institutional investors to convince them of his case and canvassed the streets of Hong Kong to enlist more retail investors.

HSBC is a mainstay of many portfolios in the city, including those of retirees, schoolteachers and taxi drivers.

These shareholders have been unhappy with the bank previously scrapping its dividend in 2020, at the request of British regulators. They argue that if the lender cordoned off its activities in Asia, it would no longer have to expose the region’s investors to requests in other jurisdictions.

Lui also confirmed he had met with Ping An Asset Management, which owns an 8% stake in HSBC, which assured him of its support for his proposal.

The arm of Chinese insurer Ping An (PIAIF) had privately pushed for HSBC to overhaul its structure a year ago.

It came out publicly in a strong statement last month, accusing the lender’s management of exaggerating “many of the costs and risks” of a breakup.

Other major investors in HSBC have mostly stayed silent. This week, though, Norway’s state pension fund said it would vote against the proposal, without elaborating further. The fund told CNN it does not comment on individual investments.

HSBC shares were down about half a percent in Hong Kong afternoon Friday.