Will chums among Hong Kong’s financial gatekeepers hold the barbarians at bay?

These are important days for Hong Kong’s financial and insurance community. There are far-reaching debates within our city and major global trends under way that will determine the financial future of Hong Kong. It’s been 20 years since Britain’s lease on Hong Kong ended, and the city’s governance was returned to mainland China, and this has prompted plenty of comparisons between the world of 1997 and the world of 2017.

Insurance sales are up almost eightfold, prompting the creation of a regulatory agency to deal with it. Stock market capitalisation is up eightfold as well, while banking assets have doubled and Hong Kong has become a world leader in offshore yuan transactions and the IPO business of raising capital. The driving force behind all of this has been the economic growth and development of mainland China.

At the time of the handover, Hong Kong’s economy made up nearly 20 per cent of the GDP of China. Now, that figure is just under 3 per cent.

Set against this 20-year upward trajectory has been some stark financial challenges. Just after the handover itself, there was the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998, and in 2008, the Global Financial Crisis. Hong Kong has not been alone in tapping into the China story; other financial centres have been competing for the same business.

Relatively few technology firms have decided to call Hong Kong home, preferring listings in more forgiving US equity markets. There is also the continued requirement of dealing with market malpractice and upgrading market quality.