Comparisons to Singapore on its handling COVID-19 aside, Hong Kong remains the ever-present financial center its name has become synonymous with

The divide between Asia's two main financial hubs in handling the COVID-19 pandemic is growing wider, with one opening to global travel and the other maintaining one of the world's harshest quarantine policies.

Singapore recently added eight new countries to its vaccinated and quarantine-free travel lanes — including the United States and the United Kingdom — the most significant easing of travel restrictions since borders shut in March 2020.?

The country will begin opening international travel by the end of the year.

By contrast, Hong Kong has embraced a zero COVID-19 strategy, placing emphasis on social distancing, limiting travel and shutting most non-residents out. Travelers arriving to the city must contend with one of the world's longest quarantines, paying to isolate in a hotel room for up to three weeks.

The news from Singapore has conspicuously brought comparisons between the two financial hubs, with some positing that Singapore will overtake Hong Kong, that the latter will see a mass exodus of business and companies to the former, who will look for familiarity in pre-COVID times instead of quarantine mandates.?

According to Jimmie Jeremejev , managing director at LehmanBush , the argument that Hong Kong is fading to its Southeast Asian neighbor in terms of business attractiveness is far from reality.

"The simple fact of the matter is that Hong Kong is still considered the gateway to greater China, and historically its place as a financial nexus for global business is still important," says Jeremejev. "LehmanBush was one of the first to identify the economic boost Singapore would receive from changing political dynamics in Hong Kong. But Hong Kong doesn’t fade into obscurity just because of its current stance on COVID-19, or tighter governance from Beijing."

America’s largest credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings recently affirmed Hong Kong’s upper-tier ranking, predicting stability on the back of a sustained economic recovery, and the belief that the past year’s sweeping political changes will have relatively little impact on the city’s fiscal autonomy.?

S&P said Hong Kong’s long-term and long-term issuer credit ratings remained at investment grades of AA+ and A-1+, respectively.

Hong Kong had 111 billionaire residents — the second largest such population among urban centers in the world — last year as the city added 15 more individuals with a net worth of at least $1 billion USD, even as its economy suffered historic contraction.

Not to be outdone, average consumers are also showing a bubbling sentiment in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's retail sales climbed for the seventh straight month in August, helped by a stabilizing COVID-19 situation, an improved labor market and economic recovery.?

Retail sales in August rose 11.9 percent from a year earlier to $3.67 billion USD, government data showed. For the first eight months of 2021, total retail sales increased 8.1 percent in value terms and rose 6.8 percent in volume.

Additionally, the city recently announced a massive urban development plan for its northern districts, an ambitious undertaking that will take approximately two decades to complete.?

In early October, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, unveiled a plan to transform remote districts bordering the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen into a "Northern Metropolis." The long-term project aims to alleviate the city’s chronic housing shortage and foster a new high-tech hub.

The districts Yuen Long and North District have 27 percent of Hong Kong’s total area, but only 1 million of its 7.5 million residents. The plan is to raise that to 2.5 million residents over about 20 years. It will also be home to an "international innovation and technology hub," in what’s seen as another bid by the Hong Kong government to create a rival to Silicon Valley.

Further enmeshing business interests with Mainland China, wealthy investors in nine Guangdong cities surrounding the "Greater Bay Area" — made up of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau — of China can now invest in Renminbi-denominated financial products issued by banks in Hong Kong and Macao, and vice versa, after a new investment scheme was launched last month.?

The "Wealth Management Connect" program marks a significant milestone in the opening of Mainland China’s financial markets, and is expected to be a boon for both investors and financial institutions in the region.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s de facto central bank, said 20 banks in Hong Kong had applied for permission to sell over 100 investment funds to mainland investors. Major players including HSBC, Citi, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong) have confirmed their participation.?

In Macao, 10 banks intend to sell investment products to residents in Mainland China.

Previously, the major global financial institutions have all indicated they will be increasing personnel in Hong Kong over the next year, and that plan hasn’t changed.

"All this is to say Hong Kong remains strategically an important city for business operations, and continues to demonstrate its financial prowess amongst the world’s big economic hubs like New York and London," says Bobby Afshar , managing director at LehmanBush. "That’s not going away any time soon."