Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam endorsed a stronger presence for Hong Kong HSBC Holdings Plc, while it was leaving the UK therefore to despise the bank and not to contain the coronavirus as Prime Minister Boris Johnson opens the door to millions of residents of the territory.
In an interview Thursday with Bloomberg Television, Lam said he would love to “see” HSBC expand into Hong Kong, where it has been criticized for freezing activist accounts and supporting the financial center’s hefty national security law. Lam also said China would probably not take action against lenders that meet U.S. sanctions, which the law prohibits.
“I don’t see why the Central People’s Government would take such actions,” Lam said. The Hong Kong chief executive added that his government “would continue to work with the banking industry in Hong Kong, not only to grow its business in Hong Kong, but also in the Great Bay area, because it is this is where the Hong Kong force resides. “
Lam has tried to persuade multinational companies to stay in the territory even as the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western nations criticize China for silencing democracy advocates after historic protests in 2019. Britain will begin accepting on Sunday visa applications for as many as 2.9 million Hong Kong residents eligible with the British national passport (abroad), as well as their dependents, who together represent almost 70% of the city’s population.
Lam said he did not see how so many people would want to move to the UK, noting that his National Health Service was under “enormous pressure” while praising Hong Kong hospitals. Still, he said he would respect the decisions of anyone who wanted to move and said the government needed to work to improve his life.
“Grilled”
The Hong Kong government has adopted integration with China since the riots hit the city, promoting the concept of the Great Bay Area that seeks to create a Silicon Valley-style regional economic zone with nearby mainland cities. of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. At a meeting with Lam on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping praised her as saying that Hong Kong should be governed by “patriots “.
Lam’s comments about HSBC came after she said CEO Noel Quinn was “on the grill” to comply with Hong Kong law. On Tuesday he defended the bank’s decision to freeze a former Hong Kong lawmaker when questioned by British lawmakers.
Quinn said the decision was purely motivated by the need to comply with local laws and was not in a position to make a “moral or political judgment” on these matters, he said. He also said he was “trying to stay out of the politics of one country versus another and do the right thing for our customers.”
The London-based bank, which sees Hong Kong as its largest market, has been caught in the midst of growing tension as China tightens control over the former British colony. The bank has been criticized in China for cooperating with Huawei Technologies Co.’s investigation, and has rejected resignations in Washington and London after last year its top executive in Asia publicly approved a controversial security law imposed on the city. .
China is key to the bank’s investment plans, which include shifting billions of capital to expand in Asia and shrink in Europe and the United States
Contraction of the register
Lam described Hong Kong’s regulatory regime as “rule-based” in contrast to what she called “politically driven” US sanctions. He said he understood why people and businesses were considering alternatives to the territory, but said “money has not moved yet.”
Photographer: Takaaki Iwabu / Bloomberg
“Hong Kong will continue to strengthen our competitiveness to attract more capital,” he said.
According to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, official data on Friday is likely to show that Hong Kong’s economy slowed a record 6% in 2020, the second consecutive year of contraction. The city will present its budget in February.
Lam said Hong Kong’s economy has very good chances of achieving positive growth this year, subject to the pandemic’s course. He noted the improvement in export and import growth figures during the second half of last year as signs of recovery and said spending on retailers and restaurants will increase once virus restrictions are lifted. Lam said the economy needed to be stimulated to create jobs.
Lam went on to defend the security law, saying it allowed political opposition in Hong Kong as long as no one crossed a “red line.” When asked if he would seek a second term in 2022, he said, “I don’t answer that question.”
– With the assistance of Alfred Liu, Ambereen Choudhury and Eric Lam
(Updates with more context in the sixth paragraph)