Author Archives: hksar gov

     Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Alternative Investment Management Association’s APAC Annual Forum 2019 today (March 7):
 
Jack (Chief Executive Officer of the Alternative Investment Management Association, Mr Jack Inglis), Ashley (Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission, Mr Ashley Alder), distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen,

     Good morning. 
 
     I am pleased to join you today for the fifth Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA)’s APAC Annual Forum. 
 
     This is also a welcome opportunity to congratulate the Association on its 20th anniversary in Hong Kong, the Association’s APAC hub.  The presence here of AIMA, and other industry bodies, and your active participation in our community, are central to Hong Kong’s success as one of the world’s great centres for financial services, conventional, alternative, or otherwise. 
 
     As I noted in my Budget Speech last Wednesday, the world we live and work in today is complicated and volatile, fraught with uncertainty.
 
     It is a time of profound change for the financial services sector and, certainly, the alternative fund sector. That’s palpably evident in technology, regulation, markets, sustainability, data science and much more. And I’m pleased to note that today’s Forum will tackle these and other challenges, and the opportunities they present. 
 
     For the moment, let me share with you a little of what the Government is doing to embrace these challenges, to position Hong Kong for a rewarding future.
 
     We are Asia’s premier asset and wealth management hub, and we will, let me assure you, continue to promote the sector, taking a multi-pronged approach. 
 
     Asset and wealth managed in Hong Kong hit a new high of US$3.1 trillion in 2017, with 66 per cent of that coming from external investors, amply demonstrating our attractiveness to international investors. To diversify our fund structure, we put in place a new legal regime last year, allowing funds to be set up in Hong Kong in the form of companies. 
 
     These open-ended fund companies, whether publicly or privately offered, can enjoy profits tax exemption. Some two weeks ago, our Legislative Council also passed a bill allowing onshore funds to enjoy profits tax exemptions – as offshore funds already do.
 
     And, taking into account suggestions from AIMA and other industry players, we have modified the tax regime for open-ended fund companies.  Specifically, we have dropped the non-closely held test that an open-ended fund company would otherwise have to pass in order to be eligible for tax exemption. The new tax treatment begins next month on April 1.
 
     We are now devising a limited partnership regime to encourage private equity funds to set up here. This would be the second dedicated regime for a fund vehicle in our statute.
 
     Later this year, we plan to table a proposal for industry consultation. And I look forward to AIMA’s comments. Our goal is creating a regime that enables the market’s healthy and orderly development.
 
     To attract more private equity funds to set up and operate in Hong Kong, I announced in my Budget Speech last week that we would study the case of introducing a more competitive tax arrangement for private equity firms.
 
     At the product level, we will continue to expand our distribution network through mutual recognition of funds arrangements. Alongside Mainland China, Switzerland and France, we recently added the United Kingdom and Luxembourg to our list of partner jurisdictions. 
 
     More than 70 funds can be sold through the arrangements now in place. And we will, of course, continue to develop this promising front.
 
     Our securities sector is also developing well. Last year, we raised about US$37 billion in funds through IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). That took Hong Kong to the top of the global IPO league for the sixth time over the past decade. 
 
     We are also committed to promoting Hong Kong as a fundraising centre for the new economy. The launch of the new listing regime last year is a key step in this direction. 
 
     The regime allows pre-revenue or pre-profit biotech companies, and high growth and innovative companies with weighted voting rights structures, to list on our Stock Exchange. Up to end last year, there are already seven such companies listed on the Main Board.
 
     Financial technology is also flourishing, with more than 550 fintech companies here. They’re doing applied research and development in a number of areas, including payment and remittance, robo-advisory in wealth management and insurance, and cybersecurity for financial services.
 
     The Accenture Fintech Innovation Lab, Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab and The Floor from Israel are among the renowned innovation laboratories and accelerator programmes that have established a presence in Hong Kong.
 
     We are promoting the diversified development of our bond market as well, through such initiatives as the Government Bond Programme and the issuance of institutional, retail and Islamic bonds. 
 
     Last May, we launched the Pilot Bond Grant Scheme and enhanced tax concessions for qualifying debt instruments. Our aim is to encourage investors like yourselves to participate in our bond market.
 
     Let me add that we have also launched a Green Bond Grant Scheme. It subsidises eligible green bond issuers in obtaining certification under the Green Finance Certification Scheme run by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency. 
 
     We are now preparing an inaugural issuance under the Government Green Bond Programme. It will align with widely accepted global standards for green bond issuance. Issuance proceeds will fund projects with environmental impacts under the Government’s Public Works Programme.
 
     In 2018, the aggregate size of green bonds arranged and issued in Hong Kong reached about US$11 billion, three times of that in the previous year. Issuers include entities from Hong Kong, the Mainland and abroad, as well as multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. And that surely attests to Hong Kong’s emergence as a green finance centre.
 
     Hong Kong also offers unparalleled opportunities for accessing the mainland market, given our strategic location, our “one country, two systems” unique arrangement and our deepening economic integration with the Mainland. Furthering mutual capital market access with the Mainland is high on our agenda. 
 
     Key milestones include the Stock Connects, the mutual recognition of funds arrangement with the Mainland, and the Northbound Trading of Bond Connect.
 
     And we are continually working to enhance the schemes. Last year, the daily quotas of the trading links under both the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect were quadrupled.
 
     We will continue to work with the industry and Mainland authorities to boost the two-way flow of cross-border Renminbi funds. And that can only enhance Hong Kong’s status as a global hub for the offshore Renminbi business.
 
     At the regional level, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development has great potential to boost both innovation-driven development and the reform and two-way opening-up of the Mainland. 
 
     The promise of the Greater Bay Area is in realising the comparative advantages of each Greater Bay Area city to drive coordinated regional economic development, accelerate regional integration and deepen cooperation. 
 
     For Hong Kong, the good news is that the Outline Development Plan for the Greater Bay Area, promulgated less than three weeks ago, supports our status as an international financial centre and offshore Renminbi business hub. It endorses, as well, our place as a global asset- and risk-management centre and the development of high value-added financial and professional services.
 
     And that’s just looking at our financial sector. There’s indeed a lot more to be excited about, including enhancing our status as a transport and trade centre, an international aviation hub as well as developing our fast-emerging innovation and technology sector.
 
     Then there’s the Belt and Road Initiative, with its central focus on connectivity. Hong Kong, thanks to its liquid capital flow and deep pool of financial talent, is the natural centre from which to raise funds for investment and infrastructural and production projects.
 
     We are, let me add, perfectly placed to provide infrastructure financing, risk management, insurance and dispute-resolution services that these big-ticket projects need.
 
     So while the near-term economic outlook may be fraught with risks, the rewards down the road still promise much for Hong Kong – and for the economies and companies and entrepreneurs who connect with Hong Kong. Together, ladies and gentlemen, we will excel.
 
     I wish you all the best of business at this year’s Forum and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year of the Pig.
 
     Thank you. read more

     Hongkong Post announced today (March 7) that among the 12 special stamp issues to be released in 2019, the issue date of the “Stamp Sheetlet to Commemorate Hongkong Post’s Participation in CHINA 2019 World Stamp Exhibition” is now scheduled for June 11 (Tuesday) to tie in with the opening of the stamp exhibition in Wuhan on the same day, and the deadline for accepting customers’ orders for this stamp sheetlet is advanced to March 26 (Tuesday).
 
     Information about this arrangement is available on the Hongkong Post Stamps website at stamps.hongkongpost.hk. 
  read more

     The Transport Department (TD) said today (March 6) that to facilitate the holding of a car racing event in the Central Harbourfront, special traffic and transport arrangements will be implemented in phases in Western District, Sheung Wan and Central from 1.15am this Saturday (March 9) to 5.15am next Monday (March 11). The TD anticipates that the traffic in the vicinity of Sheung Wan, Central and Admiralty will be very congested during the road closures and traffic diversions. Members of the public are advised to avoid driving to the above areas and make use of public transport services (especially railway service) as far as possible. Those who have to drive to the above areas should plan their journeys in advance, use alternative routes and allow more time for travelling.
      
     The special traffic and transport arrangements include:
      
* From 1.15am on Saturday (March 9), road sections in the vicinity of the Central Harbourfront including Man Po Street, Man Kwong Street, Man Yiu Street, Lung Wo Road, Yiu Sing Street, Man Cheung Street, the Central and Airport Express Station exits of the Central – Wan Chai Bypass (CWB) westbound, and the at-grade entrance of the CWB eastbound at Man Kat Street in Central will be closed and traffic diversion measures will be implemented;
 
* During the same period, traffic diversion measures will also be implemented at the exit of Western Harbour Crossing (WHC), Shing Sai Road and Hill Road Flyover. Vehicles heading to Central, Admiralty or Mid-levels from Western District and WHC should use Connaught Road West and Connaught Road Central eastbound at-grade roads.  Connaught Road Central flyover eastbound can only be used to go to Wan Chai North and North Point via the CWB. Traffic diversion measures will be implemented at the junction of Connaught Road West and Eastern Street North during the rush hours on Saturday (March 9). Vehicles on Connaught Road West eastbound cannot make a right turn to Eastern Street and will be diverted to Western Fire Services Street and Connaught Road West westbound to go to Eastern Street;
 
* During the closure of the CWB entrances and exits, motorists can still use the CWB westbound to travel from North Point to Wan Chai North, Western District and WHC or from Tsing Fung Street in Tin Hau to Western District and WHC. They can also use the CWB eastbound to go to Wan Chai North or North Point from Western District or WHC. Motorists travelling between Eastern District, and Central and Sheung Wan are advised to make use of Gloucester Road, Harcourt Road and Connaught Road Central. The Central exit of the CWB westbound and the at-grade entrance of the CWB eastbound at Man Kat Street in Central will reopen at 5.15am this Sunday (March 10).
 
     Due to the road closures and traffic diversions, 35 franchised bus routes and nine green minibus (GMB) routes will be diverted, truncated or the terminus will be relocated (please refer to the annex). To facilitate the passengers affected, the event organiser will provide shuttle bus service to connect various ferry piers in Central and temporary bus or GMB stops. The TD anticipates that the journey times and the frequencies of these services may become unstable. These services may also be temporarily altered due to change of traffic conditions. The TD thus reminds passengers to stay alert to the traffic diversions and the change in bus or GMB stops, and at the same time plan their journey in advance, allow ample time for travelling and watch out for the latest service arrangements. They are also advised to use non-road based public transport means as far as possible.
 
     Details of the special traffic and transport arrangements are uploaded to the TD’s website (www.td.gov.hk). Members of the public may also visit the website of the event organiser (www.hkformulae.com/intro/tta) to obtain the videos showing the information of temporary traffic arrangements and route diversions. For enquiries, please call 1823.
 
     The TD and the Police will closely monitor the traffic situation and implement temporary measures as appropriate and whenever necessary. Members of the public are advised to be alert to the latest traffic news through the media or via the TD’s mobile application “HKeMobility”. read more

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (March 6) visited Tsinghua University and the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing and exchanged views with students.
      
     In the morning, Mrs Lam, accompanied by the Director of the Chief Executive’s Office, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, visited Tsinghua University and met with the Party Secretary of Tsinghua University, Professor Chen Xu. She delivered a speech to over 300 teachers and students and answered questions from the students. Among those attending the session were dozens of young Hong Kong people studying in Tsinghua University. Mrs Lam spoke with the students about her exchange experience in Tsinghua University during her university years and briefed them on the latest developments in Hong Kong. She said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will leverage Hong Kong’s advantages under “One Country, Two Systems” and the city’s traditional strengths to enhance the city’s competitiveness through boosting its external relations, consolidating the traditional industries and developing the emerging industries. She said that Hong Kong has been focusing on advancing the development of innovation and technology (I&T) and that with the support of the Central Government and measures to enhance Hong Kong’s own I&T capabilities, the city will contribute to the development of an I&T hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
      
          In the afternoon, Mrs Lam and other officials visited the CAFA. Accompanied by the Party Secretary of the CAFA, Mr Gao Hong, and the President of the CAFA, Mr Fan Di’an, they visited the museum of the academy’s history and the classrooms of the School of Chinese Painting and the School of Plastic Arts. Mrs Lam also viewed the artwork by Hong Kong students of the CAFA and spoke with them at a session. Mrs Lam said she was pleased that through the support of the Ministry of Education, the CAFA will participate in the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions in the 2019/20 school year so that Hong Kong students will be able to submit applications to this prestigious art school with their results in the Hong Kong Diploma Secondary Education Examination and in accordance with the other requirements, providing a valuable opportunity for students who wish to develop careers in fine arts. Mrs Lam expressed her gratitude to the CAFA for its support for Hong Kong students as well as its efforts in promoting arts and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the Mainland all along.
      
     Mrs Lam and the other officials also visited the People’s Daily New Media Tower in the afternoon and attended a dinner hosted by the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong in the evening. Mrs Lam will return to Hong Kong tomorrow morning (March 7).

                  

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (March 6) announced that a kind of raw milk cheese imported from France might have been contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing Escher… read more