Japanese online financial giant SBI Holdings is considering pulling out of Hong Kong in response to the instability and uncertainty caused by the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, and is the first Japanese financial company to explicitly state that it will change its business deployment due to the National Security Law.
CSE is the largest online broker in Japan, with businesses in Hong Kong including securities and medical device development. A company spokesman confirmed to Japan Today that it is considering pulling out or scaling back its Hong Kong operations as soon as next March, as it believes Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center will be jeopardized. The spokesman noted that SBI has dozens of employees in Hong Kong, but declined to comment on whether it would move its Hong Kong operations elsewhere.
SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao has said that he hopes the financial hub in Japan’s Kansai region can take over Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, and the company is willing to make a contribution.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has resigned due to health concerns, said after the implementation of the “Port Area National Security Law” that Japan may accept financial and other professionals from Hong Kong.
CSIB was the first Japanese financial company to raise capital through the issuance of HDRs in Hong Kong, listing in April 2011, but later withdrew its listing in 2014 due to sparse trading. As of the end of March, the company had 8,000 employees and a market capitalization of $5.9 billion.
In addition to CSL, there were earlier reports that Japanese brokerage Daiwa Securities is also monitoring the situation in Hong Kong and if it deteriorates significantly, it will accelerate the scaling back of its Hong Kong operations.
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