By Robert Godden Many of the world’s largest financial institutions have made bold promises to promote responsible investing and combat human trafficking. Yet behind these commitments lies exploitation much closer to home, literally. In the Asian financial hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore, where many of these institutions have offices, migrant domestic workers – often hired by expatriate finance executives – are frequently trapped in debt bondage , a form of modern-day slavery.
Despite these well-documented human rights abuses, the financial sector has largely turned a blind eye to the problem, leaving its expatriate executives to use, often unwittingly, unscrupulous agencies that charge illegal fees. This makes these executives a party to a transaction that involves a trafficking-related felony. Expatriate executives with financial firms and other highly paid professionals proportionately spend more on hiring domestic help than any other sector of Hong Kong society, and benefit from this criminal activity as agencies shift costs to the workers to keep fees low for employers.
Workers are frequently charged illegal recruitment fees that can be as high as HK$8,000, far above the legal limit of HK$499. These fees often leave workers indebted and trapped, financially dependent on their employers and vulnerable to abuse . Employers, particularly expatriates in high-paying roles, must be made aware of how illegal hiring practices harm the domestic workers in their homes and un.