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Exclusive | Hong Kong ‘never left’, the city’s status as global finance hub never faltered during pandemic, JPMorgan’s wealth chief says
- ‘Hong Kong never left. It shouldn’t be so hard on itself,’ says Mary Callahan Erdoes, the chief executive of JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management
- Erdoes credits the city’s ‘super-connector’ role with enabling JPMorgan to establish a strong asset management business in China
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Hong Kong never went away during the Covid-19 pandemic and “shouldn’t be so hard on itself” with regard to its perceived diminished role as a global financial hub, said a senior executive at the investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase.
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The city’s reputation suffered in the eyes of many in the industry, as two years of strict measures to keep the virus at bay took a huge toll on the economy and business environment, fanning an exodus of expatriates from the city and handing rival Singapore an advantage.
Members of the business community became increasingly frustrated with the city’s “zero-Covid” policy – which included up to 21 days in hotel quarantine for arrivals – as other financial centres eased their restrictions and generally returned to life as normal.
But for Mary Callahan Erdoes, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management division, Hong Kong remains a tour de force of the financial world and shines as a “super-connector” between mainland China and the world.
“There hasn’t been a city in the East that has emerged in the same way that Hong Kong has, to be that [gateway],” she said in an interview with the Post. “Hong Kong never left. I mean, it shouldn’t be so hard on itself. It never disappeared.”
It is that role as a super-connector – via a multitude of cross-border investment schemes – that Erdoes credits with enabling JPMorgan to establish such a strong asset management business in China.
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