Busan vying as relocation site for Hong Kong financial firms

Busan hopes to host multinational banks, asset management companies, and venture capital firms leaving Hong Kong,

The city government plans to hold an online investor roadshow in coordination with London-based commercial think tank Z/Yen, and a web conference this month to introduce itself to Hong Kong's financial firms.

Busan also plans to bring its investor roadshow on-site and visit companies in Hong Kong.

It will also try to get the attention of global financial companies by placing ads on mobile apps and foreign business news sites, such as Bloomberg and the Economist.

Busan Acting Mayor Byeon Sung-wan swore to do their best in improving their status as a financial hub.

To sweeten the offer, the city government promised to lend business spaces for free at the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC) for 25 years.

Foreign companies who took the city's offer will be exempt from income and corporate taxes for three years and enjoy 50 percent tax cuts if they stay for two more years.

A Busan Metropolitan Government official noted that the city's merits are in the fields of maritime finance and derivatives.

The city government also criticized Hong Kong for its demonstrated instability amid protests against China's promulgation of the national security law and the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Seoul and Busan ranked 33rd and 51st in Z/Yen's global financial centers' index among 108 cities worldwide in March, prompting financial industry officials to predict that Singapore would replace Hong Kong as Asia's premier financial hub. They added that South Korea has too many regulations to make it attractive.

Lee Yoon-sok, a Korea Institute of Finance senior research fellow, noted that while Singapore is already a financial hub, it lacks new growth engines and would unlikely benefit from the growth among neighboring Southeast Asian nations.