In this file photo taken on Feb 15, 2022, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po hosts a press conference on the issuance of retail green bond, Hong Kong. (PHOTO / HKSASR GOVERNMENT)

Hong Kong’s “clear” competitive advantages in financial services, equity markets and green finance are expected to create new opportunities for the city’s development, the city’s finance chief said.

In a post on his official blog on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po expressed confidence in the city’s status as a key financial center, even as Singapore passed Hong Kong to take third place in the 32nd edition of the “Global Financial Centres Index”, with Hong Kong slipping to fourth.

Some people are concerned about the comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore… Hong Kong’s financial-services market has a significant advantage in the scale, with its economic contribution reaching US$76 billion in 2020, equaling 23 percent of local GDP. The market size is 1.5 times larger than that in Singapore

Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR government

The index, published in September by London think tank Z/Yen Partners and the Shenzhen-based China Development Institute, gauges the competitiveness of 119 financial centers around the world.

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“The index is released twice a year, and the ups and downs of the ranking are affected by short-term factors. We should be aware of our strengths and weaknesses,” Chan said. Only in this way can Hong Kong consolidate its advantages, make up for shortcomings, and then enhance its competitiveness, he said.

“Some people are concerned about the comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore,” the finance chief said. “Hong Kong’s financial-services market has a significant advantage in the scale, with its economic contribution reaching US$76 billion in 2020, equaling 23 percent of local GDP. The market size is 1.5 times larger than that in Singapore.”

Last year, the Hong Kong stock market’s value exceeded HK$42 trillion (US$5.35 trillion), seven times higher than that in Singapore, and there were more than 2,500 listed companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, nearly three times of Singapore's.

Hong Kong stocks’ turnover made a record high of HK$41 trillion in 2021, compared with HK$1.9 trillion in Singapore, Chan said.

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The issuance of green and sustainable-linked bonds reached US$31.3 billion, accounting for one-third of the total in the Asian market, while the financing amount of green and sustainable-linked bonds and loans surged fourfold to US$566 billion last year, the highest in Asia, compared with that in 2020.

“Hong Kong is indeed full of opportunities and bright prospects,” Chan said.

Hong Kong’s core advantage is that it is an international financial center of the nation — the world’s second-largest economy. The city’s role as a super-connector between the Chinese mainland and overseas is difficult to “replace and replicate”, he said.

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