London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Banks scrutinise accounts after US targets Hong Kong officials

Banks scrutinise accounts after US targets Hong Kong officials

Sources tell Bloomberg some banks are checking if they have accounts belonging to sanctioned Hong Kong officials.

Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc are stepping up scrutiny of banking clients in Hong Kong, aiming to avoid violating U.S. sanctions on officials in the former British colony.

U.S.-based Citigroup is already taking steps to suspend accounts linked to some of the 11 targeted individuals, one person familiar with the matter said. Standard Chartered, which is based in London, is reviewing whether it has relationships with any of the officials and will monitor their transactions, another person said, adding that it has suspended new account openings for those on the list.

With the U.S. and China each imposing sanctions on the other in an escalating standoff over Beijing's crackdown on the former British colony, Western lenders are walking a tightrope over their operations in Hong Kong and expansion plans in China. For their part, Chinese lenders such as Bank of China Ltd. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. are vulnerable due to their need for dollars.

The sanctions forbid banks from doing business with the penalized individuals. But complying with that order could put lenders directly at odds with the national-security law Beijing recently imposed in Hong Kong, which says that no sanctions or hostile actions can be applied against the city and mainland China.

"We regularly review client accounts around the world," said a Citigroup spokesman, who declined to comment further on Hong Kong. A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to comment.

The individuals sanctioned by the U.S. include Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China's State Council, and Chris Tang, commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force. The targeted officials will have property and assets in the U.S. frozen.

In retaliation, China is sanctioning 11 Americans, including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth and Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House.

The banks' steps add to preparations that have been going on since the security law and the U.S. Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which enabled the sanctions, were passed last month. Additional levels of screening will be done now to cope with potentially further sanctions on politically exposed people, the people said. Bankers and their lawyers from Hong Kong to Washington have been poring over the fine-print to reconcile how they can dodge major consequences from being squeezed between the two laws. Running afoul of the legislations put companies at risk of fines or losing their license to do business.

The latest U.S. order doesn't include a wind-down period, suggesting banks will be subject to the law immediately. Foreign financial institutions that don't operate within the U.S. won't be caught up as long they don't help sanctioned individuals with transactions linked to U.S. dollars, the people said.

Hard Pressed


"The banks here would be hard pressed to cut off some of these names as their customers," said Benjamin Quinlan, chief executive officer of Quinlan & Associates, a strategy consultant in Hong Kong. "At the end of the day, even if you go from a U.S. bank to the likes of HSBC, they all have an international footprint that straddles the U.S., Hong Kong, and mainland China."

Hong Kong authorities over the weekend brushed off the sanctions, saying the unilateral move won't force banks to comply under Hong Kong law. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's de facto central bank, said local lenders have no obligation to follow and the lenders should treat customers fairly in assessing whether to continue to provide services to an individual.

The assertions by the Hong Kong authorities did little to calm concerns at banks since they still will need to comply with laws in other jurisdictions, the people said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×