Banks to brokerages shrug off Hong Kong protest turmoil

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests have mainly meant business as usual for the city’s banks, brokerages and financial firms.
CLSA Ltd., located in a tower directly behind the main protest area in the Admiralty district, didn’t have to activate its contingency plans even when crowds of demonstrators swelled into the hundreds of thousands. In Citibank Plaza, less than a kilometer away, Citigroup Inc. saw no “meaningful impact.” Parry International Trading Ltd., a brokerage in Central, said business was unaffected.
While some staff in the industry have worked from home and some bank branches have been temporarily closed in protest hot-spots, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. has left its hours unchanged throughout the crisis. Now, numbers of protesters are thinning as student leaders begin talks with the government on their calls for freer elections.
“Given the level of computerization in trading these days, there’s been zero impact on the industry,” said Gavin Parry, managing director of Parry International. “The only real impact the protest could have on market participants is if the Hong Kong exchange itself was affected.”
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.1 percent yesterday, the most since Sept. 3. The gauge sank 2.6 percent last week, the steepest drop since March. The Hong Kong dollar gained 0.06 percent, the biggest two-day increase since March.
Student-led protests swelled after images of demonstrators fleeing exploding tear gas cannisters on Sept. 28 drew more people on to the streets. The protests blocked some main roads and shopping districts, and shuttered some retail and bank outlets.
Some financial services firms, such as Citigroup, activated contingency plans, letting staff work from home on Sept. 29. CLSA has a back-up office that it can use if necessary.
Dozens of protesters maintained a vigil outside the office of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday, while hundreds more were dotted along a blocked highway on the other side of the government complex. Protesters manned barricades on Queensway, in front of Pacific Place, where CLSA is based.
“CLSA remains business as usual today,” Mandy Ho, a spokeswoman for the securities firm, wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “We have been closely monitoring the Occupy Central activity since it unfolded and do not believe that it will threaten the continuity of our business operations.”
Brokers for UOB-Kay Hian Holdings Ltd. were able to make it into the firm’s office in Central, saving it from having to use its secondary office in the Yau Ma Tei district, according to Steven Leung, its director for institutional sales.
“We’re just working as normal,” Leung said by phone yesterday. Singapore’s United Overseas Bank Ltd. is his company’s biggest shareholder.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has asked banks to resume services as soon as possible, it said in a statement. Seven bank branches remain closed, it said. Almost 50 branches were shuttered at the peak of the protests last week.
Citigroup closed four of its 45 branches for “a few days” and asked some staff members to work from home on Sept. 29, James Griffiths, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, said in an e-mail. Now, just its Mong Kok branch is temporarily closed, he said.
Disruption “has been limited,” Griffiths said. “Something like 95 percent of transactions happen online so it’s not really had a meaningful impact.”
Standard Chartered Plc’s services were operating normally yesterday and disruptions from the protests had been minimal, Gabriel Kwan, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, said by phone. The lender has reopened all branches after earlier closing outlets in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok.
HSBC Holdings Plc’s building in Mong Kok, the district where a mob assaulted protesters on Oct. 3, remained closed to the public yesterday, Gareth Hewett, a spokesman in Hong Kong, said by phone. The London-
based bank’s other branches in the city were expected to be open, he said.
“Right now it appears the blockades should dissipate in the next few days,” said Cliff Tan, the Hong Kong-based East Asia head of research for Mitsubishi UFJ, whose office is located in the Central business district. “The markets are fine today.” Darren Boey, Bloomberg