'Order Banks To Ignore US Sanctions Or Leave'

Pro-establishment lawmakers on Wednesday urged the administration to do more to push back against US sanctions imposed on Chief Executive Carrie Lam and a number of local officials, with one suggesting that the Monetary Authority should order banks to ignore the sanctions or face new curbs from the SAR government.

Washington’s sanctions – taken in response to the imposition of the national security law which it says has undermined Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy – have left Lam without a bank account, and she revealed in an interview last year that she now takes her salary home in bags of cash.

During Wednesday’s Legco meeting, lawmaker Junius Ho asked if the government had directed the Monetary Authority to order banks including HSBC and the Bank of China to “safeguard the rights of Hong Kong people” in relation to the cancelled bank accounts.

Secretary for Financial Services Christopher Hui did not give a direct response, saying he could not comment on individual cases, but he noted that regulators have told financial institutions to balance the impact on clients when they mitigate risks to themselves.

Hui also assured lawmakers that the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US are not legally binding in Hong Kong, and would not affect its status as an international financial and trade centre.

Ho later told RTHK that the government should give banks an ultimatum to ignore Washington’s sanctions or get out.

"I think the Monetary Authority should issue a very clear message, directive or mandate to all these financial institutes to say that they should not just comply with those sanctions ... If they don't comply, then they would be faced with the immediate sanction from the Hong Kong government. So it's a choice between two evils...unless they pull out from the Hong Kong market, they have to comply," he said.

Ho said it wasn’t just a matter pertaining to the sanctioned individuals, but for the whole of Hong Kong.

"They just discharged their official duties to protect the interests of Hong Kong and still have to face all these sort of ramifications. It sets up a very bad example and bad implication to the general public that even the Chief Executive, the leader of Hong Kong is subject to sanctions, then ordinary residents in Hong Kong could not avoid these sort of ramifications too," he said.