If Hong Kong loses its status as one of Asia's top financial centers, it would be disastrous for the Asian financial hub, said the founder and chief executive officer of Citic Capital.

There is "no lack of competition for financial centers," said Zhang Yichen, who is also chairman at the investment firm — a Hong Kong-based alternative investment arm of the Chinese financial conglomerate Citic Group.

Investors can turn to other cities like Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai to access global capital markets, he told CNBC's Amanda Drury at the Singapore Summit on Saturday.

"I think if Hong Kong doesn't shape up, you shouldn't have a sense of entitlement (that) it has to be the financial center," he said. If the territory should lose that status, it "spells disaster because that's the only industry these days that's competitive."

Protests in Hong Kong erupted more than three months ago over a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have paved the way for suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial. While the pro-democracy protests started out as relatively peaceful in June, they have since turned increasingly violent.

Hong Kong protestors on Sunday trampled on a Chinese flag, vandalized a subway station and set fire across a wide street, the Associated Press reported.