HONG KONG - For most financial market professionals in this city and other hubs across Asia, the days of extravagant expatriate life have ended. For now at least.

The standard HK$200,000 (S$37,200) per month housing allowance for top bankers is gone or going, in most cases.

Paid-for chauffeurs to drive executives and their families around the steep hills of Hong Kong are scarcer, as are free memberships to exclusive country, golf or dinner clubs that may otherwise cost more than HK$2.1 million to join.

Free private school education for the kids, roughly US$10,000 per year per child at international schools, is getting scaled back too.

And in another sign of lean times, corporate boats for pleasure cruises around Hong Kong's myriad beaches and outlying islands are getting auctioned off, with Swiss bank UBS among the financial institutions planning to part with the boat reserved for employees and clients.

Many banking executives from Wall Street and Europe still live a life of luxury in Asia. But for many others, the 'expat' life of perks is a fading phenomenon.

'Those kind of packages will not be offered to the extent they were in the past,' said Paul Lucas, vice- president for real estate at Pricoa Relocation.

Since last December, Morgan Stanley, like other Wall Street banks, began rolling housing benefits into salaries. New hires, in most cases, will not be granted housing allowances, sources inside the bank said.

Hong Kong's elite band of property agents, responsible for renting out the territory's most desired addresses, including luxury condominiums and grand colonial mansions overlooking the city's iconic harbour, have been hit hard of late.

'My record was a HK$320,000 (rent per month) mansion that was around 4,000 square feet with a full sea view,' said a property specialist named Mr Lai.'Recently though, we haven't done many deals - only those around HK$100,000 (rent per month),' added Mr Lai, who could only reveal his surname because of strict confidentiality agreements.

Residential rental prices had dropped, by some estimates, more than 30 per cent earlier this year. Prices have stabilised, and may soon rise, but they are still nowhere near the levels reached in early 2008.

HSBC sold its boats several years ago but still owns bungalows throughout the region for off-site meetings and weekend getaways for employees lucky enough to be on top of the waiting list.

The cutbacks have been felt beyond Hong Kong. In Singapore, a rival expatriate haven preferred for its leafy, tropical environment and cleaner air, foreigners have also been pinched.

'It is very rare now, unless you are talking about someone at a managing director level, for someone being offered an expat package,' said Craig Brewer, manager of banking and financial services at staffing firm Hudson Global Resources in Singapore.

But Singapore is less known for high society perks than Hong Kong, where ostentatious displays of wealth are a part of the city's capitalist psyche. Most offshore recruits whom Mr Brewer's firm deals with are hired on local terms.

The size of housing allowances may not seem like much for people within the financial industry. For those outside it, the numbers look staggering, especially considering that in New York City, US$5,000 to US$10,000 per month will fetch an apartment with ample space.

One Asia-Pacific head of a Western investment bank, who lives in Hong Kong, receives HK$375,000 per month in housing allowance alone, according to a banker who used to work for him. -- Reuters

This article was first published in The Business Times.