Brain drain both a boon and a curse

Hong Kong's emigration wave is a cause of concern, according to Financial Services Development Council's executive director Au King-lun.

However, it could also translate into more opportunities for youngsters who prefer to stay in the Asian financial hub, he said.

His comments came as the FSDC revealed a study which showed that more than half of the city's financial professionals and college students are optimistic about the financial services sector's prospects for the next three years.

But despite the positive outlook, retaining talent is still a challenge because of the pandemic, increasing cost of living, and potential outflow of people who look for better healthcare and education for their children, it found.

The study said the pandemic has led to more people working remotely, which means Hong Kong can reach out to a wider group of candidates from around the world, though the city could also lose its talents to other markets more easily.

Hong Kong may need to explore how to enhance its appeal in order to compete with other regional financial markets which are proactive in building their expat communities, the study said.

The uncertain economic outlook in the post-Covid era is the most worrying, the study said, pointing out that a majority of the senior executives interviewed said they will tend to be conservative during this period, especially in terms of hiring new staff.

A couple of top executives from multinational asset managers said they have not made many changes in their portfolio because of what's been happening in Hong Kong as they are only concerned about profits and not politics.

They added that Hong Kong will remain their choice for global operations, the report stated.