Société Générale made an arrangement with the Singapore government that allowed it to relocate at least a dozen Hong Kong bankers despite the city-state’s tightening of controls on foreign hires, according to people close to the matter.

Two people familiar with the relocations said they were made this year after the French bank came under pressure from staff in Hong Kong keen to escape the Chinese territory’s tough pandemic restrictions.

Under the arrangement, SocGen officially designated its Singapore office as the back-up location for its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, the centre of its regional operations since 1977, said one of the people. The bank was then able to declare a business “emergency” after Hong Kong intensified its pandemic measures and temporarily move workers to ensure “continuity”.