Global banks up pressure on Hong Kong to ease restrictions

Tough rules: People crossing a road in Central district. Hong Kong has some of the world’s strictest quarantine policies, placing incoming travellers in quarantine for as long as three weeks: a largely successful strategy to keep local infections at close to zero. — AFP

HONG KONG: The finance industry is ratcheting up pressure on Hong Kong to ease its strict quarantine rules and abandon its zero-Covid policy after a survey found almost half of major international banks and asset managers are contemplating to move staff or functions out of the city.

In a letter sent over the weekend to Financial Secretary Paul Chan that was seen by Bloomberg News, the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), the top lobby group for financial firms in the city, said the hard-line approach has put Hong Kong’s status as financial centre, its broader economic recovery and competitiveness at risk.