JPMorgan Chase has cut off its Hong Kong staff from accessing Anthropic's AI model "Claude," the Financial Times reported on June 18, 2026. Based on three people familiar with the matter, the move follows a similar step taken by Goldman Sachs in late April.
June 2026 · US Banks in Hong Kong
JPMorgan Blocks Hong Kong Staff From Using Anthropic's Claude
JPMorgan Chase has pulled Claude from its approved AI model list for Hong Kong staff — following an earlier move by Goldman Sachs. The reason: Hong Kong is not among Anthropic's officially supported regions, so its terms of service do not cover use there.
2
Major US banks restricting Claude in Hong Kong
~250K
JPMorgan staff using its internal "LLM Suite"
Claude only
ChatGPT & Gemini remain available
Two banks, same restriction
Goldman Sachs
Reported Late April 2026
Affected Hong Kong bankers
Main use Coding assistance
Other models Still available
JPMorgan Chase
Reported June 2026
Affected HK office staff
Main use Email, summaries, code
Other models Still available
Why the block? The chain of reasoning
UNSUPPORTED REGION
Hong Kong is not on Anthropic's official supported-regions list
→
TERMS OF SERVICE
Sept 2025 tightening cited legal, regulatory & security risks
→
BANKS COMPLY
Claude removed from approved models for HK staff
SEEN AS A COMPLIANCE STEP
Widely read as a voluntary measure rooted in contractual and support restrictions — Anthropic confirms Claude "has never been officially supported in Hong Kong."
SEEN AS A FRICTION POINT
Viewed by some as emblematic of US–China tension over AI. Local users note that losing coding tools forces a shift to alternatives.
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