Top financial forum shows way for Hong Kong on long road to recovery
- Air of optimism among bankers and finance chiefs bodes well for Hong Kong as world continues to emerge from pandemic and more opportunities arise
If any evidence was needed of how much the lifting of Covid-19 controls and the reopening of the border mean to Hong Kong’s resurgence as a financial hub, it was made abundantly clear at the Asian Financial Forum in the city this week.
Comparisons were inevitable with the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in November, itself a big statement of the city’s determination to return to centre stage.
This was highly successful despite the remaining pandemic measures. Nonetheless their lifting had a positive effect on the atmosphere this week.
It was reflected among bankers and finance chiefs who attended both events, in the form of heightened enthusiasm and optimism about the opportunities opening up in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area as the world emerges from the pandemic.
What set this week’s event apart – the one-off finance summit aside – is that the two-day regional forum was held in Hong Kong as a physical event for the first time since the pandemic began in early 2020. More than 2,000 attended in person, with over 3,000 online.
The resumption of the forum underscores the city’s importance as a regional financial hub. This is evident in the issues raised over the two days, which reflect the priorities expected of the city.
Hong Kong to return to pre-Covid normality quickly but safely, John Lee vows
These include playing a role in ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) factors in investment decisions, financial innovation especially in family offices, and helping finance China links with the rest of world and with Southeast Asia, providing a stepping stone for global business into China. Also through wealth management, capital raising and trading in virtual assets.
One opportunity for the city identified in discussion is in helping the Asian bank sector reduce climate risks.
The significance of this agenda is not that it is new – these are perennial issues Hong Kong needs to grasp as a financial centre – but that it is being revisited so soon after restrictions were lifted and more business and finance people have begun coming to the city.
Given that this is Asia’s first financial summit of the new year, the attendance represents a good start on Hong Kong’s comeback.
Hong Kong financial secretary woos mainland crypto talent at Web3 event
Lest the city’s ability to bounce back in an intensely competitive post-pandemic environment for talent and investment is taken for granted, it is good to hear Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu assure the forum that it would return to normal but in “a safe and orderly” manner, consolidating its attraction to talent and investors.
Top officials would head overseas to convince key markets that the financial hub had returned to centre stage. Lee rightly conceded global economic uncertainties would weigh on the city in 2023, but insisted its future remained bright because of the support of Beijing.
Separately, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po predicted a robust recovery on the mainland would cushion global headwinds.
