HONG KONG (REUTERS) - Hong Kong's central bank plans to hold a major conference in November that it hopes will draw global banking bosses, sources said, as the financial hub seeks to welcome back international business after two gruelling years of closed borders.
For most chief executives of the world's major banks, the meeting would be their first visit to Hong Kong - historically a massive global conference venue - in at least three years, said the sources familiar with the matter.
The Chinese-controlled territory closed its borders for most non-residents in early 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and has maintained some of the tightest virus restrictions in the world, starving its economy of tourist and business arrivals.
Visitors to Hong Kong have to quarantine for seven days in hotels and face mandatory testing before and after arriving, as the city sticks to its Covid-19 strategy of curbing all outbreaks as soon as they occur.
Those rules, combined with temporary measures this year that separated families and children in quarantine facilities, triggered an exodus of expatriate workers, especially in financial services, from the city.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is working with foreign investment banks based in Hong Kong on the event, which is scheduled for early November and will run alongside the prestigious Rugby Sevens tournament, said the sources.
The Rugby Sevens are due to run from Nov 4 to 6, having been postponed a number of times since the start of the pandemic.
For the HKMA conference to attract global bankers, the mandatory seven-day hotel quarantine rules would need to be eased, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
After a two-year ban, borders were reopened to non-residents this month, although their entry is subject to the seven-day hotel quarantine.
While exemptions allow top financial executives visiting Hong Kong to leave their hotels for meetings, very few have taken advantage of the programme because itineraries have to be lodged with the regulators, the sources said.
The Hong Kong authorities have to date given no public indication that they intend to relax quarantine restrictions by November.
An HKMA spokesman told Reuters the authority was working on a "high-level investment summit" and would release more details later.
"The HKMA has been maintaining regular dialogue with relevant government authorities to share with them the financial industry's observations and suggestions with regard to Hong Kong's anti-epidemic measures," the spokesman said.
"We shall defer to the relevant government authorities on border control matters."
Outgoing Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said this week that quarantine rules were unlikely to be altered before her term ends on June 30. Mr John Lee, who takes over as chief executive on July 1, has indicated that he wants Hong Kong to remain a global financial hub.
