HSBC to Open Hong Kong Offices to All Staff as Virus Subsides

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc will allow all Hong Kong employees to work from the bank’s offices starting on Monday, in a further sign that the Asian financial center is getting back to full business after containing a fourth wave of infections.

“As the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong continues to stabilize, we will adjust the current work place arrangement,” according to a memo to employees, which was confirmed by a bank spokeswoman. “Starting from Monday 7 June, all employees will be permitted to work from HSBC premises.”

Remote working will continue to be an option for those who prefer it, according to the memo. HSBC, which has more than 20,000 employees in Hong Kong, has been allowing an occupancy rate of up to 50% in its offices.

The bank in general has adopted a more flexible approach during the pandemic, such as scrapping the executive floor at its Canary Wharf headquarters in London and turning private offices of top staff into client meeting rooms and collaborative spaces.

With strict quarantine and social distancing rules, Hong Kong has been one of the best places in the world in containing the virus. The financial hub has been gradually opening up, and recently announced plans to allow vaccinated directors and senior executives of major listed companies to travel in out and of the city more easily, a significant relaxation of its strict border curbs.

Bank of America Corp., which employs about 1,600 people in Hong Kong, earlier this week unveiled plans to get all of its staff back at their desks by the end of the month and encouraged its employees to get inoculated.

But with vaccination rates still low in the city, risks persist. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority earlier this week urged all banks to “strongly encourage” staff in client-facing roles or support functions to get vaccinated as the city struggles with local resistance to its free rollout.

HSBC is among lenders that will give employees who are vaccinated an extra two days off.

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