The finance industry is ratcheting up pressure on Hong Kong to ease its strict quarantine rules and abandon its zero-COVID-19 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 — the top lobby group for financial firms in the city — said the hard-line approach has put Hong Kong’s status as financial center, its broader economic recovery and competitiveness at risk.
The lobbying body’s growing alarm comes as other financial centers, including Singapore, London and New York, are starting to get back to normal, easing travel rules while seeking to coexist with the virus. Hong Kong has some of the world’s strictest quarantine policies, placing incoming travelers in quarantine for as long as three weeks, a strategy that has been largely successful in keeping local infections at close to zero.