Colm Kelleher makes remarks at Hong Kong financial forum designed to woo international investors

Global bankers ‘very pro-China’, says UBS chair


Global bankers are all “very pro-China”, UBS chair Colm Kelleher said at a financial forum in Hong Kong, where Chinese officials sought to woo rattled international investors on Wednesday.
Hong Kong is seeking to boost its status as an international financial centre at the conference, after a clampdown on civil society and years of strict pandemic restrictions triggered an exodus and raised concerns the city was losing business to rival Asian hub Singapore.
Chinese officials used pre-recorded video interviews to reassure international investors of the country’s economic strength as it battles a property sector crisis and flagging growth induced by its strict zero-Covid policy.

“China’s overall lockdowns have been steadily tightening since August, and ratcheted further over the past month,” said Ernan Cui, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing.
“Even if the Covid containment regime remains largely effective and another wave of lockdowns is mostly avoided, the cost of controlling the sub-variants is clearly rising fast and will further drag on the economy.”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Primrose Riordan