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HSBC is resuming daily operations at nearly half of its branches in Hong Kong from Friday. Photo: AP Photo

Hong Kong banks gradually reopen branches as Covid-19 cases decline rapidly in the city

  • From April 1, HSBC will keep 48 of its branches open from Monday to Friday, instead of three days a week at present
  • More than 600 of the 1,200 retail bank branches in Hong Kong were temporarily closed at the height of the fifth wave of the outbreak earlier this month

Banks in Hong Kong are gradually resuming normal services and reopening branches as cases in the fifth wave of the coronavirus outbreak continue to decline.

HSBC, Hong Kong’s biggest bank, said on Tuesday that it would resume daily operations at nearly half of its branches and allow up to 30 per cent of its staff to work in the office from April 1

The bank said 48 of its retail branches will resume daily operations from Monday to Friday, instead of three days a week at present.

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Why has Hong Kong been hit so hard by the Covid-19 fifth wave?

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Three branches, including the one at its headquarters in Central, will remain open from Monday to Saturday, while the remaining 29 outlets will open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until further notice.

“The new operation arrangement aims to balance the need to ensure essential banking services to the community and to safeguard the health of our customers and the employees,” HSBC said.

HSBC will also allow up to 30 per cent of its staff to work in the office from Friday, according to an internal memo, which was seen by the Post. Since February, the bank, which employs 20,000 people in the city, has been allowing only essential staff to come to work.

Hong Kong banks are feeling the pain from branch closures amid Covid spike

Hong Kong’s 20 major lenders temporarily shut about 200 branches from February 7, with branch closures jumping to more than 600 in early March because of safety concerns or Covid-19 infections among employees. That number has steadily decreased in the past two weeks to about 360 closures, or one third of all 1,100 branches in the city, as new infections across the city declined.

Nearly 7,600 confirmed cases were reported on Tuesday, down from a peak of over 50,000 a day in early March.

Some other banks also plan to resume normal services.

Swiss lender UBS will allow up to 30 per cent of its staff back in the office from next Monday, a source told the Post. Both HSBC and UBS have made it mandatory for staff to wear masks at work.

Bank of East Asia will also reopen three of its 15 branches that have been temporarily closed since February to curb the spread of Covid-19, a bank spokesman said. The lender will split its teams, and less than 40 per cent of staff will work in the office.

Asian economies remain well positioned for growth: Standard Chartered chair

DBS Hong Kong said it continues to encourage its staff to work from home, while Standard Chartered and Shanghai Commercial Bank will continue to operate one-third of their branches as a precautionary measure until further notice.

Bank of China (Hong Kong), which has the largest branch network in the city, had closed more than 120 branches in early March. Only 57 branches remained closed as of Tuesday, meaning that 68 per cent of its branches are functioning normally, Ann Kung Yeung Yun-chi, deputy chief executive of BOCHK, told the Post at the earnings briefing.

Normal services are expected to resume as the situation improves, she added.

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