HSBC survey sees expats continuing to stay in China over the next 12 months

A majority of overseas expats plan to continue staying in the Chinese mainland over the next 12 months, HSBC research showed on Tuesday.

The study reached over 7,000 foreign nationals across nine countries and regions.

As more regions resumed normal travel, a third of expatriates responding to the survey said they plan to relocate to another destination or return to their home country in the next 12 months.

While in the Chinese mainland, 75 percent of respondents indicated that they would stay in their current place of residence within the next 12 months. This proportion ranks top across the nine countries and regions covered in the survey (the average is 61 percent), demonstrating that the mainland is still attractive to overseas people.

"China's resumption of cross-border travel has promoted international trade and business exchanges as well as the movement of international people, thus our connection and communication with the world will become closer and more frequent," said Zhang Jun, head of Distribution, Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC for China.

It expects that demands for cross-border financial services and international asset allocation will be further stimulated. Professional and convenient international banking services will support the diversified demands of international businesses and individuals, further accelerating the international connectivity of businesses and people.

Many of the expatriates surveyed were also investors in international markets, and among the major reasons why they chose to move overseas was to increase wealth.

Over three quarters (78 percent) of the respondents who have relocated to the Mainland, or plan to do so, are interested in making a long-term investment in the Mainland. This is about 10 percentage points higher than the average level of all respondents across all nine countries and regions.

It also noted that 81 percent of overseas investors living in the Mainland hope to learn more about sustainable investment opportunities.