About two years ago, I left a US bank in Hong Kong. I work in a sought-after front office role, so I actually received six good job offers, including from Chinese firms and from international players like HSBC. However, two Singaporean banks also wanted to hire me as they were (and still are) expanding their operations into Greater China, using Hong Kong as a key base for bankers.
In the end, I opted for one of these Singapore firms, despite the compensation being the worst of all six offers and me not having any previous links to Singapore (I’m from Hong Kong). I went for this bank because I had a few friends from a previous employer there, and because I thought the North Asia head was a great guy. So personalities trumped pay in my decision making.