Hong Kong expat financiers choosing their city over London and the UK

Hong Kong expat professionals as yet unimpressed by finance-based jobs in London.

In spite of the UK government’s offer to residents and Hong Kong-based finance professionals of settlement in the UK, few are even considering the move. In addition, recruiters in the financial sector are reporting little or no interest in relocating to London. It would seem Hong Kong’s financial status will need to be severely affected by China’s new law before long-term expat financiers will admit defeat and relocate.

Just under three million Hong Kongers born before 1997’s secession to China already have the right to British National Overseas passports and are able to come to the UK as and when they please, stay for five years and apply for citizenship. Hong Kong’s financial sector employs some 263,000, with tens of thousands likely to qualify for the British government’s recently announced new programme. However, insiders are reporting the UK’s high tax rates and poorly performing economy make it an unattractive prospect, especially when considered against its high rates of coronavirus.

Another reason for the lack of interest in City jobs is that Hong Kong-based careers in finance owe a lot to their close ties with Asian clients and Asian markets, neither of which are essential in London. According to one senior HSBC employee, there’s a counter-trend emerging in that returnees are now arriving in Hong Kong from Europe and the USA as they feel far safer from the virus in the city. Also, the UK is expected to be hardest hit by the covid-19 recession in conjunction with the looming Brexit departure now due in six months’ time.

Briefly, for Hong Kong expat financiers, the UK is not now, and won’t be in the future, the land of milk and honey for unemployed expats, whatever their financial qualifications and expertise.