Hong Kong’s Brain Drain Is Causing Real Pain
The market watchdog has lost 25% of junior professional staff over the past year. It’s a warning sign for the territory’s future as a financial center.
Hong Kong’s empty international airport is symbol of Covid-era hardship that’s choking the supply of talent.
Photographer: Chan Long Hei/BloombergHong Kong officials have typically reacted with nonchalance to questions about the city’s record population exodus. Financial flows show the territory retains its hub status, business confidence is unshaken, those departing are denying themselves a role in a prosperous future. Or so some of the familiar arguments run. The Securities and Futures Commission’s staffing struggles offer a different perspective.
The statutory regulator says it lost 12% of employees last year, including 25% of junior professional staff. Those remaining are doing 12-hour days to cope with the workload, Kiuyan Wong of Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing former employees. The SFC warned in a budget statement that it won’t be able to deliver on initiatives underpinning Hong Kong’s development as an international financial center without appropriate staffing. Chief Executive Ashley Alder told lawmakers this month that employee turnover was affecting the commission’s work.