Executives at some western banks have been at pains to maintain a ‘business as usual’ approach to Hong Kong, as they play down suggestions that draconian COVID restrictions and political upheaval have wrought irreparable damage to the special administrative region.
Noel Quinn, group CEO at HSBC, encapsulated this positive spirit last month when he told journalists at the bank’s annual results presentation that the lockdowns and difficulties currently being faced by bankers in Hong Kong “are circumstances that many other countries have faced over the past two years and that it will not have a permanent negative impact on Hong Kong.”