As the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong appeared – as at the time of going to press – to have tapered off, regulators said that as of yesterday morning, six branches of six banks were temporarily closed due to the associated disruption.

As the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong appeared – as at the time of going to press – to have tapered off, regulators said that as of yesterday morning, six branches of six banks were temporarily closed due to the associated disruption.

However, suspended ATMs in the affected areas of Hong Kong have largely returned to normal service, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in an updated bulletin on its website.

“The HKMA has requested banks to resume other services as soon as circumstances permit,” it said.

China CITIC Bank International said that its CITIC Tower branch that was closed temporarily due to traffic control in Admiralty resumed operations yesterday. All CNCBI branches have returned to normal working.

Hang Seng Bank’s Mongkok Prestige & Preferred Banking Centre at 677 Nathan Road was closed until further notice while other locations remained normal.

In recent days, up to 36 bank branches of banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia and others shut temporarily due to protests. The protesters are complaining about attempts by China to vet candidates for elections in the jurisdiction.