外資銀行走出香港中環

Hong Kong’s bankers have a peculiar problem when shepherding overseas clients around the city: persuading them it is easier to walk to meetings than book a limo. The central business district’s compact nature is unique among financial centres and has been a source of pride, even as it has spurred the highest office rents in the world.

香港銀行人士在帶海外客戶遊覽這座城市時會遇到一個獨特的問題：讓他們相信步行到開會地點比租一輛豪華轎車去更容易。在全球各金融中心中，這個中央商務區的緊湊性是獨一無二的，而且一直讓香港引以爲傲，即便它帶來了全球價格最高的辦公樓租金。

Where once it was international bankers, now it is Chinese companies that are driving those rents ever higher. Hong Kong, no stranger to China-induced bubbles, is wondering how far this one can go. Bankers, increasingly forced into less central neighbourhoods, will meanwhile have to choose between taxis and traffic jams and taking the underground, known as the MTR.

推高香港辦公樓租金的曾經是國際銀行家，如今變成了中國內地企業。香港對於中國吹起的泡沫並不陌生，它正在揣測這個泡沫能堅持多久。越來越多的銀行人士正被迫遷入不那麼中心的地段，他們將不得不在出租車和交通堵塞與乘坐港鐵(MTR)之間做出選擇。

To lease the upper floors of a prime Hong Kong skyscraper, companies must pay $279 a square foot a year, says PwC. That is 75 per cent more than the $158 paid in New York, the second most expensive city. Tokyo at $150, London at $114 and San Francisco at $113 round out the top five. Chinese groups took a record 43 per cent of space leased in Hong Kong’s Central district last year — double the proportion of five years ago, according to property experts Jones Lang LaSalle.

普華永道(PwC)表示，要租用香港甲級辦公樓的高層，企業必須支付每年每英尺279美元的租金。這要比全球第二昂貴的城市紐約158美元的租價高出75%。東京爲150美元，倫敦爲114美元，舊金山爲113美元，這5個城市是全球辦公樓租金最貴的5個城市。根據房地產專業機構仲量聯行(Jones Lang LaSalle)的數據，去年中資集團創紀錄地佔到香港中環辦公樓租用空間的43%，這個比例是5年前的兩倍。

Driving demand are Chinese financial groups including smaller banks, fund managers and brokers, which are following their clients’ interest in the growing financial links between Hong Kong and the mainland, such as the Stock Connect trading scheme.

推動需求的是中國內地金融集團，包括規模較小的銀行、基金經理和券商，它們正追隨客戶對於香港與內地日益增強的金融往來的興趣，例如滬港通和深港通等交易機制。

Leasing is brisk. HNA Group, the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate, recently almost doubled its space in Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong’s premier building, for $270 per square foot. The 88-storey tower offers unparalleled views of the harbour and tenancy is considered a sign of success as well as deep pockets.

租賃活動活躍。併購意願強烈的內地綜合企業海航集團(HNA Group)最近把在香港甲級辦公樓國際金融中心二期(Two International Finance Centre)租用的辦公面積增加近一倍，租金爲每平方英尺270美元。這座88層的大廈擁有無敵的維多利亞港海景，在這裏租用辦公場所被視爲成功和財力雄厚的象徵。

“Mainland corporates really only want IFC Two, not even IFC One. It has to be iconic,” said one commercial property investor, referring to the IFC development’s smaller 39-storey tower.

一位商業地產投資者在談到國際金融中心規模較小的39層一期項目時表示：“內地企業真的只希望租國際金融中心二期，就連一期也不夠好。它肯定是標誌性的。”

Chinese enthusiasm extends to whole buildings. Last year, Everbright, the state-owned conglomerate, and property developer Evergrande each bought towers in Central for a combined $2.9bn in the city’s priciest ever commercial transactions. Other groups that have bought offices outside Central recently report immediate overtures from mainland buyers.

中國內地企業的熱情延伸至整棟辦公樓。去年，國有綜合企業光大(Everbright)和房地產開發商恆大地產(Evergrande)各自在中環買下辦公樓，共計斥資29億美元，是香港價格最高的商業地產交易。最近在中環以外地段購買辦公樓的企業表示，內地買家很快表示了興趣。

Corporate China’s interest coincides with retrenchment and caution among multinational groups. “I’m not sure given the Hong Kong stock market and the global markets picture, that they are strong enough for international banks to reinvest in space in the world’s most expensive office district,” says Charles Wong, Asia head of listed real estate at AMP Capital. “There’s no other gateway city, anywhere with such big gaps in rents between districts.”

在中國內地企業界對香港辦公樓市場產生興趣的同時，跨國集團卻在收縮並保持謹慎。“從香港股市和全球市場的狀況看，我不確定它們是否足夠強勁，能夠促使跨國銀行在這個全球最昂貴的辦公區再次投入資金，”安保資本(AMP Capital)上市房地產公司亞洲總監Charles Wong表示，“世界上沒有其他門戶城市像香港這樣，在不同地段之間的租金差距如此巨大。”

Rents in the east of Hong Kong Island or even across the harbour in East Kowloon near the old Kai Tak airport are half or less the levels in Central. In 2014, Citigroup bought a 21-storey tower in East Kowloon for HK$5.4bn ($699m) and last year moved in 3,000 of its employees. Many Citi staffers, meanwhile, fought hard not to relocate from Central, where the bank’s downsized presence means its building is no longer named Citibank Plaza.

香港島東部或者甚至維多利亞港對岸、啓德機場舊址附近的九龍東地區的租金是中環的一半甚至更低。2014年，花旗集團(Citigroup)在九龍東以54億港元（合6.99億美元）購入一棟21層辦公樓，去年遷入該行3000名員工。與此同時，很多花旗員工激烈反對，不願從中環遷出，該行在中環縮減規模意味着那棟大樓的名字不再是花旗銀行廣場(Citibank Plaza)。

Last month Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer became the first top-tier law firm to make plans to move fully out of Central, leasing new space to the east, from 2018. Fund manager AllianceBernstein is following suit. “Ten years ago multinationals wouldn’t even look outside Central,” said Paul Yien, regional director of Hong Kong markets for JLL, who sees the moves slowly changing the face of Hong Kong. “The whole harbour will become a core business district.”

上月，富而德律師事務所(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)成爲第一個計劃完全撤出中環的頂級律師事務所，從2018年起將在中環以東地段租用新的辦公地點。基金管理公司聯博(AllianceBernstein)也在這麼做。“10年前，跨國公司根本不考慮中環以外，”仲量聯行香港市場區域總監嚴威程(Paul Yien)表示。他認爲這些舉措正在慢慢改變香港的面貌。“整個維多利亞港將成爲核心商業區。”

As recently as 2010, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse demanded big rent reductions for the inconvenience of moving from Central across the harbour to Kowloon as key tenants of a gleaming new skyscraper. Bankers in Central still routinely describe trips to the 109-storey International Commerce Centre — less than 15 minutes on the MTR — as “going to the dark side” but early predictions of mass staff defections came to naught.

就在不那麼久之前的2010年，德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)還在要求大幅降低租金，以補償從中環遷至維多利亞港對面的九龍、成爲那裏的嶄新摩天辦公樓的主要租戶的麻煩。中環的銀行人士仍經常把到達這座109層的環球貿易廣場(International Commerce Centre)的過程（乘坐MTR不到15分鐘）描述爲“到黑暗的那一邊去”，但最初預測的員工大規模流失並未應驗。

With no sign of a let-up in mainland Chinese demand, few analysts expect prices to ease soon, leaving the current exodus from Central firmly on track. The bankers, lawyers and fund managers who feel displaced will have to comfort themselves with the fact that Hong Kong’s MTR has excellent 4G mobile coverage. And taxi drivers still know how to find the old Citibank Plaza.

鑑於沒有跡象顯示中國內地需求放緩，幾乎沒有分析師認爲租金會很快回落，這意味着出走中環的趨勢將延續下去。那些覺得被迫搬遷的銀行人士、律師和基金經理們不得不這麼安慰自己：港鐵的4G移動覆蓋率很棒。而出租車司機仍知道昔日的“花旗中心廣場”在哪裏。