Hong Kong to Host Global Financial Leaders Amid Easing Covid Rules
By Justina Lee
Global financial leaders from more than 100 banks, hedge funds, venture capital firms and other institutions will attend a summit in Hong Kong in person next month, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Thursday, as the Asian financial hub seeks to turn a page on the pandemic.
The city’s de facto central bank will host about 200 participants at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit on Nov. 2, including more than 30 group chairmen or chief executives, amid easing Covid-19-related travel restrictions, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said in a statement Thursday.
“The latest relaxation of some of the control measures is helpful and provides a good basis for us to finalize an appropriate set of arrangements to facilitate the visit of our guests and make the summit a success, which will underline Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center,” Mr. Yue said.
The summit will focus on issues including rising interest rates and the risk of stagflation, as well as trends in technology and sustainability “that have profound implications for the future of finance,” he added.
Hong Kong last week said it will ease some Covid-19 restrictions, including dropping a requirement for a three-day hotel quarantine for new arrivals. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that some heads of large financial institutions had indicated they wouldn’t travel to Hong Kong for the summit if the quarantine rules remained in place.
Since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Hong Kong has imposed some of the world’s most stringent rules on travelers to the Asian financial hub. The travel restrictions have been deeply unpopular with Hong Kong’s international finance and business community, which has lobbied for them to be removed.
Write to Justina Lee at justina.lee@wsj.com
