Standard Chartered: ‘We’re looking to hire in Hong Kong’ thanks to Greater Bay Area integration

Standard Chartered Bank plans to hire more staff to capture new business in the Greater Bay Area, according to a senior executive.

John Tan, regional head of financial markets at Standard Chartered Bank, said more staff are needed to handle the expected growth in trading business arising from the Greater Bay Area.

“We want to see more mainland companies trade financial markets in Hong Kong via our Standard Chartered Bank office if the policy would be relaxed under the Greater Bay Area projects,” Tan said in a media briefing last week. “This is why we need to prepare to hire more people in Hong Kong this year.”

The Greater Bay Area refers to the Chinese government’s scheme to link Hong Kong and Macau with the southern cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub, rivalling Silicon Valley.

Beijing in February announced a blueprint for the opening of the area. It also indicated it would introduce new measures to allow more cross border investment, however no details have been announced.

Standard Chartered operates dealing rooms in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to serve mainland corporate clients who trade onshore bonds and other financial products. However they can only access Hong Kong issued bonds and other financial products by setting up a local subsidiary in the city.