In flex for Hong Kong, city’s largest financial training firm helps Macau get ready for stock exchange launch

Name: Macau casinos will close for at least two weeks after hotel worker found with coronavirus infection
Uploaded: 2021-08-22T06:17:26.000Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: Macau casinos will close for at least two weeks after hotel worker found with coronavirus infection

Macau authorities are adopting the Hong Kong licensing exam as an entry requirement for investment professionals until they come up with their own regulations, HKSI executive says

Cooperation highlights the advantages of Beijing’s Greater Bay Area plan and Hong Kong’s deep expertise and experience of financial markets

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Beijing wants to diversify Macau’s economy by building its financial services industry, while maintaining its position as a leading gaming and tourism centre. Photo: Xinhua

Enoch Yiu

Published: 2:17pm, 22 Aug 2021Updated: 10:10pm, 22 Aug 2021

Hong Kong’s largest financial training organisation is working with authorities in Macau to establish an investment industry and a talent pool for a stock exchange in the former Portuguese colony.

The Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute (HKSI) is responsible for licensing exams for brokers and asset managers in Hong Kong. Under an agreement signed with the Macau Institute of Financial Services, which is backed by the Macau Monetary Authority, it will train and hold the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) licensing examination in Macau.

“Hong Kong’s SFC introduced licensing requirements with the enactment of the Securities and Futures Ordinance in 2003. The Macau authorities consider it a good reference base, recognising and adopting the Hong Kong licensing exam as an entry requirement for investment professionals until they come up with their own regulations at a later stage,” Ruth Kung, HKSI’s CEO, said in an interview.

“While Macau is traditionally strong in tourism and entertainment, it has a limited number of financial services practitioners, especially in the securities and futures businesses,” she added.

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Macau casinos will close for at least two weeks after hotel worker found with coronavirus infection

Beijing announced a raft of policies in December 2019 aimed at diversifying Macau’s economy by building its financial services industry, while maintaining its position as a leading gaming and tourism centre. A core part of the measures announced was the establishment of a Nasdaq-like stock exchange to help start-ups and growth companies raise capital in the yuan. No launch date has been set for the exchange as yet.

The cooperation is also a good example of the greater integration promised by Beijing’s Greater Bay Area development zone. The zone aims to promote talent and capital flows among China’s two special administrative regions and nine Guangdong province cities to create an economic powerhouse. It also highlights Hong Kong’s expertise and experience as an international financial centre. The city has been the world’s largest initial public offering market in seven of the last 12 years.

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