For Wall Street firms, China must be one of the most difficult places to make money right now. So it is highly revealing that many of the biggest names in global finance are set to arrive in Hong Kong this week.
Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman and Citi’s Jane Fraser are due in town, though JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon will instead be in Paris with the bank’s International Council, a group that Tony Blair chairs. Some of the most senior figures from Europe’s UBS, Barclays, HSBC and Deutsche Bank are visiting, as well as BlackRock, Blackstone and Apollo Global Management, among others.
Few organisations could imagine being able to bring such a line-up together. But the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory’s de facto central bank, is hosting them at a conference with the theme “Living with Complexity”. That phrase offers at least a nod towards how tough the financiers’ task will be.