Hong Kong’s ‘unusually strict’ quarantine rules may push financial firms out of the city: report
Hong Kong’s “unusually strict” quarantine rules will deter financial firms from continuing their business in the city, stirring up “growing anxiety” within the city’s financial sector, according to industry figures cited in a Bloomberg report on Friday.
One executive at an international investment bank told the financial news agency that banks would have to consider transferring some of their traders to other financial hubs if Hong Kong maintains its current quarantine policies over the long term. The policies force employees and their children to serve out quarantine in “spartan” government facilities, he said.
The quarantine sites often have poor facilities, including unreliable Wi-Fi connections, making it difficult to contact or hold video conferences with quarantined employees, he said.
Some companies and organizations from the local financial industry are drafting a letter calling on the Hong Kong government to map out better measures to counter the year-long pandemic and to propose a clear road-map for COVID-19 policies, according to the article.
“For the U.S. business community, the quarantine has been a great frustration,” Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg. “We hope the procedures will be changed when the government feels it is safe.”
Hong Kong’s regulations on inbound tourists, as well, are stricter than in other financial centers, the report said. Travelers arriving from countries other than China must stay in designated quarantine hotels for 21 days. Shanghai requires only 14 days’ isolation and Singapore allows people to quarantine at home.
Hong Kong has recorded a total of 11,351 confirmed COVID-19 cases, far below the level of other major trading hubs such as Singapore, which has seen more than 60,000 cases.
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