Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s brokers and banks shut branches as financial hub hunkers down for worst coronavirus flare-up yet
- Bright Smart Securities and Everbright Securities have stopped allowing customers to conduct in-person trading at their premises
- Bank of China (Hong Kong) has shut 50 branches across the city, while Bank of East Asia said it shut 15 outlets
Several of Hong Kong’s biggest brokers and banks have shut their branches, as the financial hub hunkers down for the toughest social-distancing rules yet to combat a fresh wave of Covid-19 outbreaks that sent daily infections into four digits for the first time.
Bright Smart Securities, operator of the city’s largest brokerage network, said it stopped letting customers have in-person access to trading rooms in 14 branches starting from February 8. Bank of China (Hong Kong), one of the city’s three currency-issuing banks, shut 50 branches, while Bank of East Asia shut 15 outlets.
“We want to avoid social gatherings to prevent the spread of the [Covid-19] disease,” said Bright Smart’s chief executive Edmond Hui Yik-bun, in an interview with South China Morning Post. “Many investors like to meet their friends at our branches to socialise and chat about investments. These gatherings should be avoided during the current health crisis.”
Banks, insurance firms, wealth management firms and stockbrokers have been spared from the draconian rules, but financial firms said they are not taking any chances.
