Survey: Global firms relocate regional positions out of HK

Over a third of global fund management firms have transferred regional and global positions abroad as Hong Kong’s strict COVID-19 restrictions deter recruiting. According to the report conducted by the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association, around 70% of interviewees said it was ‘extremely difficult’ or 'difficult' to hire foreign talents to work in Hong Kong, as COVID-19 measures that have isolated the global financial hub from the rest of the world.

This is of major concern because what defines Hong Kong as a global/regional fund management hub is its deep and diverse pool of talent. Around 36 fund management companies have responded to the survey and 35% of the responding fund management companies have moved some or all of the regional/global posts from Hong Kong to other offices. Meanwhile, 13% of the responding firms have reduced the headcount in Hong Kong. In addition, 55% of the responding firms indicate that whilst they have not reduced the headcounts in HK, they have been adding head counts in other offices.

Meanwhile, 97% of responding fund management companies believe that re-connecting with the rest of the world is key to revitalising Hong Kong and enable it to regain the ability to attract talents. Reconnecting with the mainland is also important, with 82% of respondents saying it is of the highest priority. The report also revealed that 20% of investment management firms were now offering "hardship allowances" to attract global talents. The incentives aimed at offsetting mental stress for candidates who found Hong Kong to be a challenging move, said Sally Wong, CEO of the association, on RTHK’s radio programme on 17 August.

Hong Kong’s marketing industry has gone through massive amounts of turbulence, and like many parts of Asia, talent woes continue to impact many within the industry. This is further exacerbated by the fact that more than 10% of skilled workers have left the city, according to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) in March this year. The sales and marketing industry is losing skilled workers as more than 10% of practitioners have left the city, according to the survey.

The survey unveiled that among the surveyed businesses in the city, they had lost about 11% of sales and marketing practitioners. However, the sales and marketing industry was not the most severely impacted sector, as the engineering and technical sector had lost 28% of labours in total, the highest category among all industries, followed by finance and accounting (21%), IT (21%), and senior and general management (20%).

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