Easing Hong Kong’s COVID curbs, opening China border top bankers’ wish list

Global executives want to see a further easing of Hong Kong’s COVID-19 restrictions and it’s crucial for the China border to reopen so the financial hub
can reconnect with the mainland, the head of the city’s de facto central bank told Reuters.
Speaking on the city’s currency peg to the U.S. dollar, Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), said that while there was no intention to change the peg, there were always contingency plans.
Yue hosted some of the world’s top banking bosses at a business conference last week aimed at rebooting Hong Kong’s status as a premier financial centre.
The former British colony has seen an exodus of talent over the past year, with many residents fed up with relentlessCOVID-19 controls that have seen scores of events cancelled, postponed or re-routed to other Asian cities.
Anti-government protests in 2019 and a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 have also clouded Hong Kong’s image.