{"text":[[{"start":5.55,"text":"Bridget arrived in Hong Kong last year with a prestigious degree and high hopes. But unlike some incarnations of the finance professional in the past who landed in the city to enjoy sky-high rents and bargain-basement taxes, Bridget comes from the Chinese mainland and speaks Beijing-accented Mandarin and American-accented English."}],[{"start":24.55,"text":"Hong Kong’s financial services market has evolved along with the city’s fortunes in the past two decades as the territory has developed as China’s door to the world. There is less demand for western professionals offering expertise and international perspective."}],[{"start":39.6,"text":"“Given the vast influx of dual-educated [in China and the US] highly motivated staff from China, the need to import solely from abroad has diminished,” said Jonathan Slone, former Asia chair of Jefferies."}],[{"start":53.5,"text":"More sought after are those like the Beijing-born Bridget (not her real name): skilled graduates from top universities on the mainland who can liaise easily with clients across China. In particular demand are those with a US education that allows them to keep one foot in both the Chinese and western worlds. "}],[{"start":72,"text":"About 90,000 mainland Chinese arrived in Hong Kong in 2025 via visa schemes for top talent workers, up from 19,000 in 2016. With such recruits supplementing the ranks of local employees in financial services firms, there are fewer opportunities for those who, for example, turn up from Britain with no professional network, local language skills or relevant experience. "}],[{"start":94.85,"text":"The disparaging acronym Filth — “Failed in London, Try Hong Kong” — that gained notoriety under British rule might be a crude caricature. But Hong Kong had always been seen as a place of opportunity for international workers such as Britons, even generalists in the financial centre."}],[{"start":112.55,"text":"This partly reflected western ownership of businesses and western clients. And there was a time when local Hong Kong and Chinese companies were casting around more for foreign expertise. But local experience in international markets and business has developed in recent decades. And the client base has shifted. More valuable now is someone familiar with the cultural context who can charm a wealthy mainlander into a private banking relationship or convince a company executive to retain their advisory services ahead of an initial public offering."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":145.6,"text":"Hong Kong’s post-pandemic financial comeback has been built on a massive inflow of mainland Chinese capital and companies, using the territory as a base or a launch pad for further expansion. "}],[{"start":156.95,"text":"“The greater bay area [in China] is a huge engine of growth and Hong Kong finances a lot of that growth,” Bridget tells me. She says that professionally, Hong Kong is the best of both worlds for her, close to the mainland while “the atmosphere is very international”."}],[{"start":173.1,"text":"Employers tell me that the inability to speak a Chinese language is increasingly a real deal-breaker in recruiting given the “Mandarinisation” of much business in the city. One headhunter says westerners who lose their jobs in Hong Kong will find it difficult to get a new one without language skills or China contacts. "}],[{"start":192.65,"text":"At the junior level, he adds: “It would be quite unlikely for a global bank to be recruiting a non-Mandarin speaker from [for example] Exeter University to come work at a job in Hong Kong given the local talent pool.”"}],[{"start":206.05,"text":"While the visa statistics don’t fully break out how many Britons arrived in 2025, only about 2,500 arrived via general employment and tech schemes. That number is thought to have been relatively stable in recent years. "}],[{"start":221.35000000000002,"text":"Shangri-La’s chief executive Hui Kuok underlined the shift in demand for what employers are seeking at an HSBC event this week. “We will be growing our leadership team, our management team much more from the talent pool in China,” she said. "}],[{"start":235.35000000000002,"text":"One British white-collar professional tells me he would struggle to find a job if he arrived in Hong Kong now. “People who are from a western background still in the city feel like they are the ‘Last of the Mohicans’,” he adds. "}],[{"start":248.00000000000003,"text":"This observation does not mean that a foreigner can never get a job again in Hong Kong. Indeed, the endurance of the city’s population of French specialists in financial quantitative modelling is proof that workers in niche and highly skilled sectors will continue to arrive from around the world where needed."}],[{"start":266.90000000000003,"text":"And strivers will continue to come to Hong Kong as well, as they do anywhere with money to be made. But a baton has now been passed in management, client-facing and dealmaking roles. There might be more competitive tensions between Cantonese and Mandarin speakers in the future over jobs but it is clear a recruit from the mainland now has the upper hand over the international hire."}],[{"start":296.95,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776561131_7210.mp3"}