Is Hong Kong still Hong Kong?

Can anyone shed some light on HK's future? With all these BB cutting headcounts and moving APAC headquaters, is IBD in HK basically over?

In the past, ECM was more prominent and there were less M&As in HK. But now it appears that even IPOs in HK are dying... 

What do you all think the future looks like?

6 Comments
 

The future of HK is bleak, and China has only itself to blame. That country is very good at shooting itself in the foot. They could have it all yet they choose pointless rhetoric over doing what’s right for their nation and world

 
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Grew up in HK and work in IBD in NYC now. Have a couple of friends in IBD in HK. From a society level, there has been a mass exodus of expats and local talent to surrounding asian countries e.g. Singapore. This has occured for consulting, finance and Tech. The reason for this is due to the new national security law that basically allows China to prosecute whomever they want for whatever reason. Imagine no freedom of speech.

In terms of IBD, as an analyst you need to be fluent in both Chinese (mandarin) and English, banks have pivoted away from hiring locals and focused on hiring mainlanders. This is not a new thing (re: top banks hiring kids of top officials). Additionally, for top earners, although they have a significantly lower tax rate than US, they pay ceiling is way lower, due to lack of M&A and IPOs through HK. So why work in HK.

There has been efforts for HK to rebrand as the fintech/crypto capital, but given how crypto is viewed, its more memes than a solid effort. 

Overall, not great. 

 

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