Officials said on Monday that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is well positioned to reinforce its role as an international financial center and a leading platform for global accounting and auditing services, driven by the nation’s high-standard opening-up and surging global demand for reliable cross-border financial information.

The remarks were made at the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC) Regional Regulatory Forum. The AFRC is Hong Kong’s independent regulator of the accounting profession, responsible for safeguarding the quality of financial reporting and auditing.

In her keynote speech, Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance Guo Tingting said the country remains committed to expanding high-level opening-up and actively participating in global economic governance, including accounting and auditing regulation, while treating all firms operating in the country equally.

Guo said the world is facing emerging challenges, such as an accelerating technological revolution and industrial transformation, as well as profound shifts in the global economic landscape. She said the only way forward is to deepen cross-border regulatory cooperation and improve global accounting and auditing governance.

However, differences in legal regimes and accounting rules, compounded by friction in cross-border regulatory communication, may undermine global capital market transparency while opening avenues for regulatory arbitrage in financial fraud, she said.

Guo said she believes Hong Kong remains an indispensable international financial center and a crucial platform for global accounting and auditing services. She added that the Ministry of Finance will, as always, support the prosperity and development of Hong Kong’s accounting and auditing industry.

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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, in his opening remarks, said that developments in global trade, technology, and the green transition bring opportunities while demanding higher levels of trust and accountability — a reality “Hong Kong is experiencing firsthand”.

He said diversity and openness were boosting fundraising and cross-border investment flows. In the first 10 months of this year, Hong Kong recorded 121 initial public offerings (IPOs), raising over HK$400 billion ($51 billion) — 40 percent more than the total raised for all of last year. Notably, around 60 percent of the new issuers have international business operations.

“More investment, more partnerships, and more companies concurrently operating in several markets. With that comes a growing demand for credible financial information that can be trusted across borders,” Chan said.

He said the city should maintain prudent supervision while fostering market development. “We see these responsibilities as complementary and essential to the continued development of our financial markets.”

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David Sun Tak-kei, chairman of the AFRC, said Hong Kong’s continued success as an international financial center “depends on investor confidence”. While investment opportunities and sound governance attract capital and earn confidence, trust is what retains capital, he said.

“At the heart of that trust are reliable financial reporting and high-quality auditing — not merely technical requirements, but foundations of market confidence,” he said.

Kelvin Wong Tin-yau, chairman of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, said trust depends not only on the numbers, but also on the integrity of the process by which those numbers are prepared, challenged, and assured. That responsibility is shared equally by audit committees, management, and auditors, he said.

Contact the writer at akirawang@chinadailyhk.com