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Easy for Luo Huining, parachuted in from mainland, to ridicule the US sanctions. But for HK's local officials, from Carrie Lam down, they'll be painful. Here are some comments from an exec with the China unit of a major European bank... short thread (1/) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/08/i-can-send-100-to-mr-trump-senior-chinese-official-ridicules-us-hong-kong-sanctions
First, he said the impact will begin to be felt on Monday morning. He variously described all officials on the list now as "toxic" and as "pariahs" for all foreign banks, not just US banks, who deal with them. (2/)
Second, he said that banks had been running "tabletop scenarios" for several weeks about how to deal with different US sanction types: ie, if they targeted individuals, banks or all SWIFT transactions. Limiting to individuals was the mildest option in a systemic sense. (3/)
Finally, his view is that major Chinese banks, afraid of trouble with the US, would themselves comply with the sanctions and start to limit dealings with Lam et al. "She will be left with the Bank of Dalian." (4/4) ////
