Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at the Hong Kong Fintech Week x StartmeupHK 2026 today (November 2):
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. And welcome to Hong Kong FinTech Week and StartmeupHK 2026.
This year's global gathering counts some 1 000 governmental leaders and fintech, finance and technology professionals from over 100 countries and economies. That includes some 800 exhibitors and start-ups, and more than 30 delegations from the Chinese Mainland and abroad.
Ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to Hong Kong, Asia's world city, and the world's fintech capital.
You're here at an extraordinary moment in time, with technology advancing at remarkable speed and AI transforming industries. And soon the world. Supply chains, too, are evolving, and new patterns of investment, innovation and global trade are fast emerging.
These developments, and a lot more, are forcing businesses worldwide to adjust to shifting market conditions and unprecedented technological change.
In such an ever-changing, all-encompassing environment, one quality is becoming ever more valuable. I'm talking about certainty. Certainty about direction. Certainty about opportunities. Certainty about where businesses can invest, innovate and flourish, in the long term.
Less than two months ago, the HKSAR Government unveiled Hong Kong's first-ever Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development. It's closely aligned with the National 15th Five-Year Plan, which sets out a clear direction for Hong Kong to leverage its strengths and better integrate into, and serve, the overall national development.
Our Five-Year Plan reinforces Hong Kong's status as an international financial, maritime and trade centre, as well as an international aviation hub.
In realising it, we will accelerate Hong Kong's development as both an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre and a hub for high-calibre talent.
More than a policy document, our inaugural Five-Year Plan portrays Hong Kong's outlook for businesses, investors and innovators. For you as well. Helping you capitalise on the far-reaching promise of Hong Kong – the abundance of opportunities arising from national and global development.
On the global stage, Hong Kong continues to be recognised as the world's no.1 in economic freedom. We are Asia's leading international financial centre, now home to more than 1 400 fintech companies.
We have risen to second place, globally, in competitiveness. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange remains among the world's leading exchanges in initial public offerings. And the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster is ranked the global no.1, two years in a row, in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index.
These, and other international achievements speak of more than rankings. They are important because of what they represent. Confidence.
Confidence from investors, who continue to put their capital to work in Hong Kong, now the world's largest cross-boundary wealth hub.
Confidence, too, in our asset and wealth management sector, with net fund inflows surging about 200 per cent last year, marking a third consecutive year of growth.
Confidence from talented professionals worldwide, turning to Hong Kong for their future.
And, yes, confidence from international companies choosing Hong Kong to build and scale.
From January to September this year, InvestHK, our dedicated investment promotion agency, has helped more than 550 overseas and Mainland companies establish or expand their businesses in Hong Kong, an increase of 14 per cent, year-on-year. That's brought in about US$ 9 billion in foreign direct investment, creating about 11 100 jobs within the first year of their opening or expansion.
They are here to invest in Hong Kong, and the opportunities on offer in our city. In the decades to come, many of these important opportunities will come from our Northern Metropolis.
Northern Metropolis is the northern part of Hong Kong, representing about one-third of Hong Kong geographically, which adjoins Shenzhen city. The Northern Metropolis itself will create a new "South-North dual engine" for Hong Kong.
That means finance in the south, and innovation and technology in the north – adjacent to the boundary with tech powerhouse Shenzhen and the rest of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Covering about one-third of Hong Kong's land area, the Northern Metropolis will eventually be home to some 2.5 million people, or one-third of Hong Kong's population, providing more than 500 000 new job opportunities.
Three university towns spanning more than 1 000 hectares will rise from the heart of the Northern Metropolis, bringing education, technology, industry, talent and urban development all together.
We are creating an innovation through-train, connecting talent and research with commercialisation and industry – and ultimately, with capital and global markets.
And through the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, or what we call the Loop Hong Kong Park, we are deepening collaboration with Shenzhen. Planned as a world-class I&T hub, the Loop Hong Kong Park will enable the cross-boundary flow of personnel, materials, capital, data and other elements driving innovation.
San Tin Technopole, an extension of the Loop Hong Kong Park, will accelerate the commercialisation of R&D results, providing industrial space for prototyping, as well as pilot and mass production.
And companies and innovators can take confidence in Hong Kong's rule of law, our robust intellectual property protection, and the international standards global business demands, thanks to our unique position under the "one country, two systems" principle.
The principle ensures Hong Kong's international orientation and deep integration with the Mainland, giving companies a clear runway – from research and commercialisation to scale up. Our goal is to ensure that businesses have the capabilities, capital and connections to grow – from Hong Kong into Mainland and global markets.
Hong Kong is a pivotal player in building the Greater Bay Area into one of the world's leading I&T hubs.
We will develop an I&T industry chain in the Greater Bay Area, creating an international collaboration network that deepens regional ties with the Mainland, as well as international co-operation. Hong Kong's unmatched connectivity fuels the global expansion of businesses worldwide.
In official visits across ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the Middle East and Central Asia, I have seen, first-hand, the growing interest in and recognition of Hong Kong as a trusted business partner, international financial centre and platform for collaboration.
More than access to capital, businesses today are looking for open and progressive financial centres – cities where they can connect with talent, test ideas, build partnerships and compete globally.
Ladies and gentlemen, despite the wide-ranging uncertainties facing the global economy, I'm confident that Hong Kong's future will be a future for us all. In business, finance, technology and so much more.
If you believe that technology will define the future, if you believe that Asia will continue to drive global economic growth, and if you believe in the transformation taking place across China, then you must believe in Hong Kong's pivotal place in making it happen.
After all, it's in Hong Kong that you access global capital while remaining close to one of the world's most dynamic engines of innovation and growth. Hong Kong, where you can take an idea from research to commercialisation, and on into global markets. Hong Kong, the East-meets-West city built on multilateralism, free trade and mutual opportunities.
And over the next several days, you can do it all, right here, with the rest of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you the best of business, finance and fintech at Hong Kong FinTech Week and StartmeupHK.
And I invite you to make time for Hong Kong, the world's rising East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
Thank you.