JPMorgan offers Hong Kong staff up to US$5,000 each in reimbursement for quarantine stays after family visits abroad

Name: Hong Kong-mainland border reopening hopes grow as Chinese experts review city’s Covid-19 measures
Uploaded: 2021-11-22T04:51:49.000Z
Duration: 1 min
Description: Hong Kong-mainland border reopening hopes grow as Chinese experts review city’s Covid-19 measures

US bank to provide quarantine reimbursement for a single trip for Hong Kong staff to visit loved ones between December 1 and next November

New programme comes a week after JPMorgan boss skipped quarantine for visit to the city

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon became the first Wall Street boss to visit Hong Kong since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Bloomberg

Chad Bray,Peggy SitoandCheryl Arcibal

Published: 12:51pm, 22 Nov 2021Updated: 11:31pm, 22 Nov 2021

JPMorgan Chase will give its staff in Hong Kong up to US$5,000 each in reimbursement for quarantine stays when returning to the city, if they want to travel overseas to visit immediate family, according to an internal memorandum.

The new policy will apply to Hong Kong-based executive directors and lower-level staff at the US bank for a single quarantine stay for personal trips to see family between December 1 and November 30 of next year, according to the memo, seen by South China Morning Post.

“We recognise that the costly quarantine measures in place in Hong Kong associated with Covid-19 have impacted many of you with respect to visiting family and loved ones overseas,” the company said in the memo. “As a firm, we would like to help and with this in mind we have introduced a new quarantine reimbursement programme in an effort to support employees wishing to travel overseas to see immediate family.”

The new programme, the first announced by an investment bank, comes days after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon paid a 32-hour visit to Hong Kong, the first Wall Street boss to visit the city since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Dimon qualified for a waiver during his visit a week ago from Hong Kong’s strict quarantine measures, which can include up to 21 days in a hotel for fully vaccinated persons coming from the United States and other areas considered high risk for Covid-19.

01:00

Hong Kong-mainland border reopening hopes grow as Chinese experts review city’s Covid-19 measures

Hong Kong has faced criticism from the financial community over the city’s “zero Covid” policy as leaders hope to reopen the border with mainland China for quarantine-free travel as soon as next month. A delegation of mainland health officials visited the city this weekend to inspect the city’s Covid-19 prevention measures ahead of the expected border reopening.

Last week, FedEx shut down its Hong Kong pilot base, blaming the city’s coronavirus policies. The Asia hub for the US logistics company is in Guangzhou.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x