Bankers may face delay in plans for quarantine-free business travel to Hong Kong

SENIOR bankers eager to skip Hong Kong's 21-day quarantine and hit the ground running may have to wait longer than they might have expected.

A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau expects to "take some time" as it looks into the details of the travel applications received.

"We...expect to take some time to process them (the applications) in the light of latest local and global pandemic situations to ensure relevant control measures are sufficient to mitigate the risk of case importation," a spokesman for the authority told Bloomberg.

Bloomberg also cited an unidentified source saying that top banking executives who have applied to take business trips in June are being advised to postpone without any clarity of the new timeline.

The report said according to the source, the Hong Kong government is still evaluating the policy, including how detailed the applicant's itinerary should be. No applications have been approved yet, said the source.

In late May, Hong Kong had announced that fully vaccinated senior executives at financial institutions licensed by its Securities and Futures Commission can apply to travel in and out of the city without any need for a 21-day hotel quarantine, paving the way for them to carry out business upon landing.

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Currently, most people arriving in Hong Kong must isolate in a hotel for 14 or 21 days upon arrival. Only fully vaccinated travellers coming from "low risk" countries who tested negative for Covid-19, including Australia and New Zealand, can qualify for a seven-day hotel quarantine.

David Leong, managing director of HR consultancy PeopleWorldwide, told The Business Times that the unpredictability of the case surges make it hard for policy makers to materialise their plans.

"The surge incidences are beyond policies and control measures from each side," he said. "Bankers therefore cannot work on such variabilities and uncertainties to reach out to their clients."

He pointed out that digital tools such as Zoom are the most ideal options at this juncture to carry out business as they are "straight to the point" and transactions can be instant.

"When normalcy returns, the bankers can do more for forging better relationships in their physical meetings and interactions," said Mr Leong. "For now, all these niceties and pleasantries can be dispensed for safe measures."

The delay is likely to dash hopes of banks here, some of which have significant operations in Hong Kong such as DBS and OCBC. This comes as the Greater Bay Area is set to be the next battleground for local banks' expansion plans.

However, some banks are taking a wait-and-see approach in their business travel plans, preferring to err on the side of caution.

OCBC's head of operational risk management Patrick Chew had said on Monday that all employees for now will be allowed to travel internationally for "business-critical purposes only", such as closing contracts and special investigations that are time-critical.

Under Hong Kong's earlier plan to allow senior global bankers to skip the length quarantine, each financial company can seek exemptions for only four executives entering Hong Kong per month, comprising two visitors and two returning from elsewhere.

Visiting executives must also comply with stringent rules - successful applicants can only leave their accommodation to attend approved activities stated in the trip itinerary.

Separately, Singapore and Hong Kong are set to review their delayed plan for a travel bubble, with talks to resume in early July. The travel bubble has been deferred twice.

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