Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam endorsed a stronger presence for this HSBC Holdings Plc while released in the UK for both belittling the bank and not controlling the coronavirus as Prime Minister Boris Johnson opens the door for millions of area residents to relocate.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, Lam said she would like to see HSBC expand into Hong Kong, where it is increasingly criticized for freezing activists’ accounts and backing the financial center’s sweeping national security bill. . Lam also said China would likely not take action against lenders who comply with US sanctions, which the law prohibits.
“I don’t see why the Central People’s Government would do such a thing,” said Lam. The Hong Kong CEO added that her government “would continue to work with the Hong Kong banking industry not only to grow their business in Hong Kong, but also in the Greater Bay Area, which is where Hong Kong’s strength lies. . “
Lam has sought to convince multinational companies to stay in the territory, even as the US, UK and other Western countries are criticizing China for its decision to silence democracy advocates following historic protests in 2019. Great Britain will begin accepting visa applications for a whopping 2.9 million on Sunday Hong Kong residents eligible for a UK national (overseas) passport and their family members, who make up nearly 70% of the city’s population.
Lam said she failed to see so many people wanting to move to the UK, noting that the National Health Service was under “enormous pressure” while praising Hong Kong’s hospitals. Still, she said she would respect the decisions of anyone who wanted to move and said the government had to work to improve their lives.
‘Grilled’
The Hong Kong government has embraced integration with China since the unrest hit the city, promoting the concept of the Greater Bay Area, which aims to create a Silicon Valley-style regional economic zone with the nearby cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen on the mainland. In a meeting with Lam on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping praised her saying Hong Kong should be ruled by “patriots. “
Lam’s comments about HSBC came after she said Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn had been “grilled” for complying with Hong Kong law. On Tuesday, he defended the bank’s decision to freeze a former Hong Kong lawmaker when questioned by British parliamentarians.
Quinn said the decision was motivated purely by the need to comply with local laws, and that he was unable to make a “moral or political judgment” on such matters, he said. He also said he was “trying to stay out of one country versus another’s politics and do the right thing with our customers.”
The London-based bank, which sees Hong Kong as the largest market, is in the midst of growing tension as China tightens control over the former British colony. The bank has been criticized in China for its cooperation in the Huawei Technologies Co. investigation, and has been reprimanded in Washington and London after its CEO in Asia publicly approved a controversial security law imposed on the city last year.
China is key to the bank’s turnaround plans, which include shifting billions of capital to expand in Asia and cutbacks in Europe and the US.
Record contraction
Lam called Hong Kong’s regulatory regime “rules-based” as opposed to what she called “politically-driven” US sanctions. She said she understood why people and businesses were considering alternatives to the territory, but said that “the money hasn’t moved yet.”
Photographer: Takaaki Iwabu / Bloomberg
“Hong Kong will continue to strengthen our competitiveness to raise more capital,” she said.
Official data released Friday is likely to show that Hong Kong’s economy contracted 6% in 2020, the second consecutive year of contraction, according to economists questioned by Bloomberg. The city will announce its budget in February.
Lam said Hong Kong’s economy has a very good chance of delivering positive growth this year, depending on the course of the pandemic. She pointed to improving export and import growth rates in the second half of last year as signs of recovery and said spending at retailers and restaurants will increase once virus restrictions are lifted. Lam said it was necessary to stimulate the economy to create jobs.
Lam continued to defend the security law, saying it allowed political opposition in Hong Kong as long as no one crossed the “red line.” When asked if she would seek a second term in office in 2022, she said, “I’m not answering that question.”
– Assisted by Alfred Liu, Ambereen Choudhury and Eric Lam
(Updates with more context in sixth paragraph)