The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region should seize opportunities and proactively and deeply align with the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) in order to strengthen cooperation with the Chinese mainland in the economic and financial fields, and leverage its niche strengths to continuously promote new progress in global financial governance reform, said Vice-Premier He Lifeng.

The vice-premier made the remarks while addressing the fourth annual edition of the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, organized by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, through a recorded video speech on Tuesday.

Themed “Trekking through Shifting Terrain”, the summit invited some 300 global financial leaders from all over the world, including more than 100 group chairpersons and CEOs, to navigate trends, opportunities and risks in the evolving landscape characterized by geopolitical uncertainty, divergence in monetary and economic policies and headlong technological advance.

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He said proactive and deep alignment will further consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international financial, shipping, and trade center, accelerate the construction of an international innovation and technology center, and demonstrate greater achievements in integrating into and serving the overall development of the nation.

The vice-premier added that the SAR can also play a role in promoting the improvement of global financial governance, as the city has participated consistently, extensively and deeply in the global economic and financial system.

He said that he hopes Hong Kong will contribute wisdom and strength to building and maintaining a fair, just, open, inclusive and win-win international economic order, promoting the stable development of the global economy and finance and jointly transforming the Global Governance Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in September, into a beautiful reality.

Focus for global investors

Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong’s progress in financial markets and fintech will be two compelling areas of focus for global investors.

“Our stock market has soared over 30 percent year-to-date, while average daily turnover has exceeded $32 billion, nearly double that of last year. In the first 10 months of the year, Hong Kong recorded 80 initial public offerings, raising over $26 billion, making the city the top global fundraising hub year-to-date,” Lee said.

The chief executive said the government is pressing ahead with reforms to the listing regime; promoting the trading of stocks in renminbi; attracting primary bond market issuance and boosting secondary bond market liquidity; enhancing the preferential tax regimes for funds, single-family offices, and carried interest for the wealth management sector; and building an international gold trading market.

“We are working with our regulators on a future-proof regulatory regime, key to enabling the healthy and sustainable development of digital assets in Hong Kong,” Lee said. “Project Ensemble explores the tokenization of assets, and the development of common industry standards. Hong Kong Monetary Authority will promote live transactions of tokenized assets, exploring tokenization’s potential in digital trade and other areas.”

Other mainland financial regulators at the summit emphasized the importance of interconnection between the financial markets of the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong SAR.

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Lu Lei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said that the authorities have actively promoted the interconnection of financial services such as account opening, cross-border payments and credit reporting, including cross-border payment and cross-border QR code payment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, hoping to provide safer, more efficient and more convenient cross-border payment services for people and businesses in the region.

Zhou Liang, vice-minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said, “We will actively respond to the demands of the financial industries in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and continuously enhance the level of financial openness of the mainland to Hong Kong and Macao under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.”  

He added that the NFRA will support mainland insurance companies in issuing catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities in Hong Kong, and support banking and insurance institutions to provide comprehensive financial services to mainland enterprises going global by leveraging the Hong Kong platform.

‘Virtuous interaction’

Li Ming, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said, “We will further deepen practical cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong capital markets to promote the formation of a new pattern of virtuous interaction between onshore and offshore development.”

The cooperation includes improving the quality and efficiency of overseas listing registration, expanding the scope of the Shanghai-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and supporting the inclusion of renminbi stock trading counters and real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the Stock Connect program, actively supporting Hong Kong in launching government bond futures.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue Wai-man said that against the backdrop of an evolving macroeconomic environment, financial leaders, like hikers who need to pay attention to weather and terrain changes, need to closely monitor market changes and plan ahead.

Contact the writer at oswald@chinadailyhk.com