UBS, StanChart tighten work rules in Hong Kong amid Omicron threat

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Banks in Hong Kong, including UBS Group and Standard Chartered, are once again tightening work rules at their offices and moving into split teams as the detection of the Omicron variant threatens a fifth wave of infections in the Asian financial hub.

UBS has asked all business functions in Hong Kong to revert to two split teams to alternate office work week by week, according to a memo. The Swiss lender is also asking staff to avoid going between floors to avoid potential cross-contamination and to not interact socially outside the office with members of the alternate team, the memo said.

The policy, starting immediately, is to ensure the bank can continue operations in the event of an outbreak, it said. All physical meetings are limited to a maximum of 12 people at the bank. A Hong Kong-based spokesman confirmed content of the memo.

The protective measures come about seven months after business life largely returned to normal as the city's fourth wave of infections subsided. The emergence of Omicron is now putting the city's zero-Covid-19 strategy to the test after it detected the first local transmission in nearly seven months. Officials on Wednesday ordered bars, gyms, swimming pools and nightclubs closed from Friday for two weeks and restaurants to end dine-in services at 6pm.

Standard Chartered also told staff to work in split teams in Hong Kong. "We've managed through multiple Covid-19 waves before, so we know we can overcome this," the bank said in a memo to its staff that was confirmed by a spokesman. It urged employees to take laptops home every day and called on staff to avoid large-scale organised events and unnecessary social gatherings.

Frustration has already been mounting among businesses in Hong Kong over the city's stringent quarantine rules, which require arrivals to stay at government facilities and hotels for as long three weeks. Business groups in Hong Kong are warning that the rules put the city's status as a global financial hub at risk. An October survey found that almost half of major international banks and asset managers are contemplating moving employees or functions out of Hong Kong.

Officials on Wednesday also halted flights from eight countries, including Britain and and the United States.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority already last week reminded banks to allow employees to work from home and split staff into different teams, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported, citing unidentified people. More than 80 per cent of the staff at major banks have been vaccinated, according to the report.