Two of Wall Street’s biggest banks have restricted access to Anthropic’s Claude AI models for employees in Hong Kong, a move that is drawing chats far beyond the financial sector.
JPMorgan Chase removed Claude from its list of approved large language models available to staff in Hong Kong. The decision follows a similar restriction introduced by Goldman Sachs in April. Reports indicate both banks acted after reviewing Anthropic’s licensing terms, which exclude use in Greater China, including Hong Kong.
The restriction appears to be specific to Anthropic. Reports from April noted that Goldman employees in Hong Kong could still access other AI services, including OpenAI products and Google’s Gemini, through internal platforms.
BREAKING: JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs just cut off all Hong Kong staff from accessing Claude.
— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) June 18, 2026
Two of the largest banks on Wall Street have now blocked their Hong Kong employees from using Anthropic's AI models, citing the wording of Anthropic's own licensing agreement which… pic.twitter.com/XzlzkSsjTD
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The issue centered on Anthropic’s contractual language and the company’s position that Claude was never officially supported in Hong Kong.
The timing is notable because banks have been among the most aggressive adopters of generative AI. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs was working with Anthropic on AI-powered systems designed to automate accounting, compliance, and other internal functions. Yet despite that relationship, the bank still moved to restrict Claude access for employees in Hong Kong.
The broader backdrop is the growing tension between AI development and geopolitics. Western AI models such as Claude are already unavailable in mainland China, but Hong Kong had largely remained outside those restrictions.
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That distinction is becoming less meaningful as U.S. companies and their enterprise customers impose their own geographic limitations. Reports have linked these decisions to concerns about intellectual property protection, model distillation, cybersecurity risks, and compliance with evolving U.S. policies on advanced AI systems.
Some observers argue the move could affect Hong Kong’s position as an international financial hub, especially as AI tools become deeply integrated into software development, research, and financial analysis workflows. Others view the restrictions as a straightforward compliance decision tied to licensing agreements and export-control concerns.
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AI Is Maybe Becoming Increasingly Regional
This story is less about Claude itself and more about how AI access is becoming tied to geography, regulation, and corporate compliance.
Big financial firms are not going to ignore contract rules, especially when it comes to sensitive data and the new regulations around AI.
This whole episode also shows that access to top AI models can differ depending on where you are, even inside the same global company. If other providers or countries start doing the same thing, multinationals could end up dealing with a much more fragmented AI world than anyone predicted a year ago.
The big question now: is this just an Anthropic thing, or is it the beginning of a wider shift in how frontier AI systems are accessed around the globe?
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