Hong Kong protests prompt Citigroup to warn employees to avoid ‘dangerous situations’ after banker arrested
- The arrested man is a director in the company’s capital markets business, according to a source
- The American bank is looking into the incident
Citigroup has warned employees to keep out of harm’s way after a widely circulated video showed one of its bankers being arrested in Hong Kong following a scuffle with police.
The American bank hosted a conference call on Wednesday after the video emerged, advising its employees in Hong Kong that their safety was the bank’s No 1 priority and to avoid “dangerous situations”, according to a person with knowledge of the call, who was not authorised to discuss it publicly.
The arrested employee is a director in the company’s capital markets business, the person said.
The incident comes just over a month after a JPMorgan employee was punched outside the company’s offices at Chater House in Central after responding to protesters with “We are all Chinese” in Mandarin. The employee did not appear to have been targeted because he worked for a global bank.
Escalating clashes between more radical protesters and police have severely disrupted transport in the city this week, with the government suspending classes at schools on Thursday as a result.