Banks in Hong Kong remain cautious on return to office as US, UK colleagues reopen workplaces

Name: ‘Vaccine bubble’ allowing Hong Kong bars and party rooms to reopen leaves many confused
Uploaded: 2021-05-22T03:30:18.000Z
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: ‘Vaccine bubble’ allowing Hong Kong bars and party rooms to reopen leaves many confused

Many banks continue to split and rotate teams to avoid shut down by a coronavirus outbreak

Hong Kong’s strict quarantine requirements make executives leery of fully reopening offices

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Banks are remaining cautious in fully reopening their Hong Kong offices as colleagues in the US and UK prepare to head back to their desks. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Chad Bray

Published: 11:30am, 22 May 2021Updated: 11:53pm, 22 May 2021

Global banks in Hong Kong are taking a cautious approach and continuing to limit the number of people coming into their offices, even as their counterparts in the US and other “high risk” countries prepare to invite more employees back to their desks as soon as next month.

Unlike financial hubs from New York to Singapore, many workplaces in Hong Kong never fully shut down as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on regional economies.

Several banks in the city, including HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and UBS, remain at or just above 50 per cent capacity in terms of their in-office staffing, with many employees having not seen some colleagues in person for more than a year. Some lenders split teams into weekly or bimonthly rotations to avoid a single infection shutting down the entire workplace.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely and all our decisions are focused on the safety of our employees within the workspace and are in line with health authorities and government guidelines,” a JPMorgan spokeswoman in Hong Kong said.

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‘Vaccine bubble’ allowing Hong Kong bars and party rooms to reopen leaves many confused

The measured approach in Hong Kong comes as many bankers in the US and Europe prepare to return to the office for the first time en masse since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March of last year.

Banks in Hong Kong remain cautious on return to office as US, UK colleagues reopen workplaces

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Many banks continue to split and rotate teams to avoid shut down by a coronavirus outbreak Hong Kong’s strict quarantine requirements make executives leery of fully reopening offices

Many banks continue to split and rotate teams to avoid shut down by a coronavirus outbreak

Hong Kong’s strict quarantine requirements make executives leery of fully reopening offices