Financial firms in Hong Kong are scrambling to fortify their compliance operations following U.S. sanctions and China’s new national security law, even as the sector pushes to cut costs amid the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports. Because sanctions are a “niche area”, companies are hiring lawyers with some sanctions expertise and supplementing with external law firms, she said. The sanctions came after Beijing imposed in late June a sweeping security law on Hong Kong, targeting seditious and subversive activities. It is a Catch-22 situation for financial firms in Hong Kong. Recruitment from rival financial hubs has been curtailed because of virus-related curbs and political uncertainty in Hong Kong, say headhunters.

Source: The Standard September 04, 2020 02:15 UTC