HSBC to Temporarily Close All Hong Kong Retail Branches

HSBC Holdings plc, Citigroup Inc and Bank of China (Hong Kong) said they will close all of their retail branches in Hong Kong temporarily on Saturdays from March 5 as the Asian financial hub scrambles to contain its worst outbreak of Covid-19.

HSBC, the city's largest lender, will also shut 11 more outlets starting from Wednesday (Feb 23) after several staff tested positive for Covid-19, the London-based bank said in a statement. The bank, which operates about 100 outlets in Hong Kong, last week closed some branches, including the one in its main office building in the Central district.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) will close a dozen branches temporarily from Wednesday after employees had preliminary positive tests, while Citigroup shut two branches from Feb 11, according to separate statements from the banks.

Hong Kong has been hit by the worst outbreak since the pandemic began, with new infections now in the thousands each day. It will conduct compulsory testing of its entire 7.4 million population three times in March, deploying a key mainland China strategy in a bid to slow an outbreak that's pushed the city's resources to the brink. The Asian financial hub is considering imposing increasingly draconian measures, with a Hong Kong lawmaker calling for a short lockdown to rein in the outbreak.

"This is a precautionary measure to safeguard the health and safety of the bank's employees and customers in light of the rapidly evolving Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong," according to HSBC's statement.

HSBC chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson cautioned on Tuesday that there could be some disappointment in wealth revenue for the first quarter as the bank had to close about half of its branches in Hong Kong.

Source: BloombergQuint