HONG KONG, Feb 3 (Reuters) - An outspoken, pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker said on Wednesday that the financial hub’s banking regulator should require banks operating in the city to either ignore U.S. sanctions or leave the territory, public broadcaster RTHK reported. The U.S. government last year barred American companies and people from doing business with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other Hong Kong and Chinese officials, and also prevented non U.S. financial institutions from offering services to Lam and others. Banks have followed the U.S. sanctions, which Washington says it imposed on the officials for their role in curtailing freedoms in the Chinese-ruled territory. Lawmaker Junius Ho told RTHK that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) should tell financial institutions “they should not just comply with those sanctions ... If they don’t comply (with such a directive from Hong Kong), then they would be faced with the immediate sanction from the Hong Kong government.” “It’s a choice between two evils...unless they pull out from the Hong Kong market, they have to comply.” The HKMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The regulator said previously Hong Kong law does not require banks to follow U.S. sanctions. As well as being criticised in Hong Kong and mainland China for following U.S. sanctions, banks in Hong Kong have also come under fire from lawmakers in the United States and Britain for assisting police with investigations into local pro-democracy activists. (Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Kim Coghill)