HONGKONG should develop its own financial regulatory system and regulators to allow it to better ensure its financial autonomy after 1997, says Hongkong Bank executive director Paul Selway-Swift.
Delivering a speech on Hongkong's regulatory framework after 1997, Mr Selway-Swift said that to realise the territory's financial autonomy, as outlined in the Joint Declaration, Hongkong needed to develop a responsive regulatory system.
''If we continue to develop our own responsive system in Hongkong, those regulating it are likely to be left alone to get their job done,''he said.
He doubted that China would meddle in Hongkong's financial regulatory system ''both for practical and for the policy reasons agreed within the Joint Declaration''.
The regulatory framework to be developed should be reliable and unique to Hongkong.
''It is time to say goodbye to London. For years what was good for London, and what worked in London, was considered equally good for Hongkong,'' he said.