HSBC’s taipan steps up with proposal to help Hong Kong’s youth study, find jobs or start businesses in Greater Bay Area
- HSBC’s Peter Wong Tung-shun proposed the establishment of an organisation to provide guidance and advice to the city’s youth to help them study, work or set up new businesses on the mainland
- Local authorities should establish an online platform to give information and advice through organising seminars and conferences, he said
“They need information and guidance for them to make right choices to develop their career,” he said, adding that local authorities should establish an online platform to give information and advice through organising seminars and conferences.
The proposal by Wong, the top executive of the largest of Hong Kong’s three currency issuers – known as a taipan during colonial days – underscores how the GBA could present a viable option for the city’s youth, where the unemployment rate had jumped to a 17-year high of 7 per cent. With a combined population of 72 million people and US$1.7 trillion in economic output, the cluster of 11 cities in southern China including Hong Kong and Macau could be the world’s 11th largest economy if it were a stand-alone entity.
Wong tabled his proposals on Thursday in a Chinese language statement during the fourth session of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing. The CPPCC has 2,158 delegates who hail from different political parties, professions, and industries. Delegates meet for a week-long meeting in Beijing to discuss policies and recommendations to the legislature.
HSBC, which traces its history to Hong Kong and Shanghai more than a century ago, joined the scheme with an offer of 100 jobs. The bank would also grant up to HK$8 million for scholarships over the next three academic years for up to 100 Hong Kong undergraduates who want to work or study in the GBA.
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Start-ups in the Greater Bay Area should use Hong Kong as a gateway to global markets
HSBC, the largest bank in Hong Kong and Europe, has big plan in the GBA, spending US$150 million since 2019 on its first global training centre in Nansha, a district in Guangzhou about an hour by car from Hong Kong. Known as the HSBC University, the 11-storey centre will go into operation by 2024 to provide training to over 14,000 HSBC employees in Asia-Pacific as well as senior global executives each year.