ST : Expats leaving HK for 'cleaner' pastures

May 16, 2010

Expats leaving HK for 'cleaner' pastures

Worsening air pollution driving finance professionals to S'pore

By Sherry Lee

When financial analyst Terry Dunne looks at Hong Kong's smoggy skies these days, he thinks of his toddler son - and of packing up and moving his family to another city.

Worsening air pollution is cited as the main push factor for hundreds of expatriate bankers, stock analysts and other finance professionals leaving Hong Kong each year for 'cleaner' and not just greener pastures elsewhere.

Experts find this outflow of expatriate expertise a worrying trend that could threaten Hong Kong's status as a regional financial centre in the long term.

Noting that many of the expatriates move on to new jobs in Singapore, the experts express concern that Hong Kong's loss would be Singapore's gain.

Mr Ben Tyrell, whose company Relocasia handles about 2,000 expatriate moves annually, said the number of expatriates who left Hong Kong citing its air pollution has risen sharply in the past 10 years - from 20 per cent a decade ago to 60 per cent, or 1,200.

'Pollution is among the top three reasons,' said Mr Tyrell, adding that better career prospects and personal reasons are the other two.

He notes that in pollution-triggered cases, the deciding factor for expatriates is often the health of their children.

'Singapore is attracting senior expatriate families because it is cleaner and provides a better living environment,' said Mr Tyrell.

Last month alone, his company packed off 50 expatriates who cited air pollution as a factor.

Entire financial firms are also pulling out of Hong Kong, said Mr Tyrell.

And such anecdotes, said political analyst Michael DeGolyer, are just 'the tip of the iceberg'.

About one in five people in the city of seven million is considering leaving because of its air pollution, according to his 2008 report on air pollution, Hong Kong's Silent Epidemic, and this group consists mostly of high-income earners, professionals and managers.

'Worsening pollution tends to drive out those with young children, those with higher education and more marketable skills, and the older but more experienced employees,' said Professor DeGolyer, director of the Hong Kong Transition Project at Baptist University.

Last month, the city's leading authority on air quality, Mr Anthony Hedley, was forced to leave Hong Kong for health reasons.

The 69-year-old Briton, who created the Hedley Environmental Index, had campaigned for radical measures to fight the city's pollution for two decades.

Prof DeGolyer said he believed that Hong Kong's pollution woes, if left unchecked, could undermine its leading position as a financial hub to China as well as the region.

An Environment Bureau spokesman did not comment, but the Hong Kong government said it has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to cut emissions. It attaches great importance to improving air quality, 'both for our citizens' health and for our city's competitiveness', said a spokesman.

Dr Raymond So Wai Man of the finance department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong notes that for those who want to leave Hong Kong but wish to continue working in the region, Singapore will be an obvious choice.

'Hong Kong will be affected especially if financial talent goes to Singapore, another financial hub,' he said, adding that major international fund managers are increasingly using Singapore as their base.

'Then Singapore will become the 'brain', the part that brings in revenue, and Hong Kong will be just the 'limbs', handling front-line deals.'

Hong Kong also faces increasing competition from Shanghai, which is shaping up as China's financial centre.

'When that time comes, the 'brain' will be in Singapore, and the operational front lines and financial deals will go to Shanghai. Hong Kong will be left with nothing,' said Dr So.

But Mr Richard Vuylsteke, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, is more optimistic. He said: 'People leave, but they can be replaced. I haven't seen any significant downsizing in the financial sector. It is not an issue.'

Dr So pointed out, however, that many of the replacements may not have as much experience.

Financial headhunter Ryan Marshall noted that people who come to work in Hong Kong these days are younger - mostly in their 20s or 30s - and are unlikely to stay beyond two years.

For Mr Dunne, a 40-year-old Canadian from Vancouver, what is most important is his young son's health and well-being.

He remembers the day dust from a sandstorm originating in northern China caused the city's air pollution to hit a record high.

It was March 22, the same day his 21-month-old son Augustus ran a high fever and developed breathing difficulties.

'He got really sick. He had a high fever of 41 deg C, his chest was congested and he had difficulty breathing,' he recalled.

Augustus got better, but continues to be susceptible to coughs and colds. He had been hospitalised twice in the past six months.

Mr Dunne, who also has a five-year-old daughter, says he has been thinking about returning to Canada or moving his family to another city like Singapore.

'I have friends in Singapore. The air is clean and the sky is so clear, you can see much farther,' he said.

'Here in Central, you can't even see what's across the harbour.'

sherryah@gmail.com


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SMOG CITY

Just how bad is it?

In the air

· Hong Kong's air contains 1.3 times more particles of soot and other pollutants than Tokyo's, 1.7 times Singapore's and 3 times more than New York's.

· Roadside pollution exceeded 100 API (Air Pollution Index) on 23.8 per cent of the last quarter of last year, up from 3.6 per cent in the same quarter of 1999. An API of 101-200 is considered unhealthy, while 51-100 is moderate.

· Monthly roadside API average hit 143 last October, the highest monthly average in the past 10 years.

Bad for sports

· Just 41 days of healthy breathable air in 2006, with 30 days safe for outdoor sports.

· 4,800 in marathons needed medical treatment in February, with 22 taken to hospital.

Bad for health

· 1,600 die prematurely from air pollution every year.

· 81,000 hospital bed days and over seven million doctor visits caused by pollution in 2008.

· Costs from premature deaths, hospitalisations and doctor visits topped HK$2.2 billion (S$390 million) in 2008.

Where is it coming from?

· More than half from its own power plants, vehicles and ships' burning bunker fuel.

· 40 per cent from roadside emissions by buses.

· Roadside nitrogen dioxide levels last year were 2.8 times the recommended World Health Organisation guidelines, and particulate matter levels three times.

What are they doing about it?

· Tax incentives to promote the use of environment-friendly vehicles and fuels.

· Green transport fund to test green and low-carbon transport technology.

· Trying out cleaner fuel for ferries.

· But no legally binding laws yet.