Former HKMA chief Joseph Yam calls for more ‘capital mobility’ in Greater Bay Area
- Joseph Yam wants an easing of rules so financial firms can tap more business opportunities and have increased ‘capital mobility’ in the economic zone
- The ex-HKMA chief also wants Hong Kong to speed up progress in developing the yuan business, which he says has been happening too slowly
Former Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) CEO Joseph Yam Chi-kwong has called for an easing of restrictions on cross border capital flows so that local financial firms can help the Greater Bay Area develop into an economic powerhouse.
“I feel sympathy with the financial industry trying to further develop in the Greater Bay Area,” Yam said at an event held by Swiss lender UBS.
Yam was CEO of the HKMA, Hong Kong’s de facto central bank, from its establishment in 1993 until 2009. He has also served as a non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong since 2017.
Under the Greater Bay Area project initiated in 2019, Beijing introduced measures to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into an integrated economic hub. One of the measures was the Wealth Management Connect scheme introduced in September last year.
But Yam wants to see an easing of rules so financial firms can have more business opportunities and increased “capital mobility” between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area cities.
“For example, how about allowing banks licensed in Hong Kong, if they meet the license requirement in the Greater Bay Area, to do banking business in the mainland cities?” he said.
