Hong Kong cannot just be ‘China’s financial centre’, it must be counted among top global hubs, HKMA’s Eddie Yue says

HKMA has been ramping up efforts to keep abreast of global financial trends, including fintech, ESG and central banking digital currencies, Eddie Yue says

Yuan’s internationalisation will take time, but ‘it has the potential to open a new chapter in financial services’, HSBC Hong Kong CEO Luanne Lim says

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Hong Kong Monetary Authority CEO Eddie Yue Wai-man says the city must tap opportunities in China and keep up with the latest developments in global finance. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 5:31pm, 5 Jul 2023

Hong Kong will continue to develop as a global finance hub and should not just be viewed as China’s offshore financial centre even as it continues to ramp up efforts to support the internationalisation of the yuan, said Eddie Yue Wai-man, CEO of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

“Hong Kong remains the only gateway linking China to the world [and] at the same time we’re also an integral part of the global financial system,” Yue told the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum summit on Wednesday. “We cannot be just China’s financial centre. We need to be global.”

Yue said the HKMA has been ramping up efforts to keep abreast of global financial trends, including fintech, ESG (environment, social and governance) initiatives, central banking digital currencies (CBDCs), virtual asset tokenisation and bond issuance.

“We need to both develop for the Chinese opportunities and latest trends in global finance.”

Hong Kong has launched several initiatives to boost the yuan’s global profile. Photo: Reuters

As the world’s largest offshore renminbi centre, Hong Kong has been striving to promote the yuan. Last month, the Hong Kong stock exchange kicked off the dual currency model, allowing stocks to be quoted in the local dollar and the Chinese currency. A week earlier, Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the city was looking to expand bilateral trading of the yuan and launch new products, while talks were also under way between the city and mainland Chinese authorities to launch yuan treasury bond futures locally.