HSBC Adopts Vaccine Pass Policy For HK Staff

HONG KONG – Employees of HSBC Holdings will be required to have a valid vaccine pass to enter the multinational bank’s outlets and office buildings in the Chinese territory effective on 28 March, reported Bloomberg on Wednesday afternoon (2 March, SGT).

“All HSBC employees, contractors and third parties will need to be vaccinated or have a valid medical exemption to enter any HSBC premises, including all branches,” the bank stated in a memo published on Wednesday.

However, the new rule won’t apply to clients entering HSBC branches. Clients unable to provide a vaccine pass in the HSBC primary building or the HSBC Center in Hong Kong will be able to meet in designated places.

HSBC’s vaccine pass requirement will be introduced in 3 stages to give ample time for Hong Kong employees to get inoculated. At least one dose of a vaccine or valid medical exemption will be required for entry into its office buildings from 28 March 2022, with the number of doses increasing in April and June of the same year, it added.

The bank’s vaccine pass policy comes as Hong Kong faces its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the onset of the pandemic. In February, the city’s central bank urged financial firms to consider imposing a vaccine mandate at their offices and compelled them to inform the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) whether they will do so.

Earlier, Goldman Sachs Group imposed rules requiring all employees to get their COVID vaccines before entering their workplace from 24 February.

After 2 years of small outbreaks, Hong Kong is now facing its hardest fight against the virus, with the highly transmissible omicron variant testing its zero-COVID strategy. New cases have soared from a few hundred per day to over 30,000 a day and Hong Kong now has one of the highest COVID fatality rates in the globe.

Consequently, the government plans to impose a 4-day limited lockdown at the beginning of a compulsory testing blitz for Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people later this month.