JPMorgan Asks Some Hong Kong Staff to Get Vaccinated by June 30

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. asked staff with client-facing roles or critical day-to-day functions in Hong Kong to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or subject themselves to testing every two weeks.

The U.S. bank said such employees will need to get at least one vaccination dose by June 30, according to an internal memo from the lender’s compliance department. Staff who haven’t been vaccinated, for medical or other reasons, will need a test by that time and then share their vaccination or testing status every two weeks, the memo said. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan confirmed the contents of the memo.

The move came after the Asian financial hub’s de-facto central bank issued a circular to all lenders earlier this month, urging them to identify and draw up a list of designated staff expected to receive inoculation in order to boost vaccination rates.

The largest U.S. bank has also ordered workers outside of Hong Kong to fill out a questionnaire on their vaccination status by the end of this month, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and other members of the operating committee wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday. Employees who don’t respond will be contacted by managers until they do.

Hong Kong residents have remained reluctant to receive shots amid an atmosphere of mistrust for the Beijing-backed government and few cases in the financial hub. Financial institutions including HSBC Holdings Plc and China Construction Bank (Asia) have doled out perks such as days off, cash credits and free stocks to get more staff inoculated.

Banks are in the midst of the return-to-office push as Hong Kong’s virus situation improved and infection numbers remain minimal. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC opened their offices fully to employees in Hong Kong this month, while other global banks also increased their office capacities.

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