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Hong Kong’s government is offering to exempt fully-vaccinated bankers from the city’s compulsory quarantine, easing the travel restrictions to and from Asia’s financial hub as coronavirus cases ebb, according to the South China Morning Post and other media. 

“Senior executives of licensed corporations or their overseas affiliates, who are fully vaccinated and meet the eligibility criteria, may apply for exemption from the compulsory quarantine arrangements when they return or travel to Hong Kong,” the jurisdiction’s Securities and Futures Commission is quoted as saying in a circular released late last week.

Senior executives – those with regional or global roles – of SFC-licensed firms may apply for four trips per month: two for visitors and two for returning executives. With immediate effect, the exemptions are subject to full and timely disclosure of travellers’ itineraries and strict adherence to movement and accommodation restrictions, the circular said.

This move highlights how Hong Kong and other financial centres are keen to ensure that COVID-19 controls hobble travel as little as possible, and are consistent with health concerns.