PR blitz to boost Hong Kong's finance cred

Hill & Knowlton has been retained by the Hong Kong government's InvestHK body to promote the city as a global financial and asset management hub.Hill & Knowlton's London office will provide PR support for a global campaign, which will target financial services companies and executives. Part of the agency's brief will include PR support in the lead up to a finance conference in London on 16 November followed by a conference in New York in the spring.The account will be managed by Ben Curson, head of financial and professional services at Hill & Knowlton, which said Hong Kong is already seen as a leading international centre and a gateway to China."Given the shifting of economic and financial gravity to the East, Hong Kong is a natural home for financial services businesses looking to locate in Asia."The news comes as Invest Hong Kong releases fresh data about the number of overseas and Mainland Chinese companies running business operations in Hong Kong, up 2.6% in the past year to 6,561 companies.Simon Galpin (pictured), director-general of Investment Promotion, said in the wake of the global financial crisis, Hong Kong continues to be an attractive city for these companies to base their operations in this part of Asia.Of the companies surveyed, 20% indicated they may expand their businesses in Hong Kong in the next three years either by increasing staff, expanding the scope of business functions or increasing office size.