US and European banks in Hong Kong are conducting emergency audits of their clients to identify Chinese and Hong Kong officials and corporates that could face US sanctions over a new national security law.
Donald Trump, US president, is expected to sign into law as early as next week the Hong Kong autonomy act. The legislation gives the administration the power to impose sweeping sanctions on officials accused of undermining Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status, as well as banks and state entities that do “significant transactions” with them.
At least two large international banks in Hong Kong were studying which of their clients and partners might be exposed to sanctions under the act and with which they might have to terminate their business relationships, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.