Following is the speech by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at the press conference on Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival 2026 today (October 23):
Alpha (Director-General of Investment Promotion, Ms Alpha Lau), ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning and thank you for joining us today. In about a week's time, Hong Kong will once again welcome innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and policymakers from around the world for Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival 2026.
I have had the privilege of witnessing this premier gathering transform into a global powerhouse for innovation over the years. Entering its 11th edition this year, the event reaches another milestone. We are delighted to welcome over 45 000 executives, more than 1 000 renowned speakers, and 800 sponsors and exhibitors from over 120 economies to join us. This is of particular significance when we just had the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Finance Ministers' Meeting completed in Hong Kong earlier this week, and one of the key discussion areas at the meeting exactly falls on digital infrastructure financing. In tandem with Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan and the Policy Address, which set out the blueprint for our city's future development, this year's Hong Kong FinTech Week carries the forward looking theme "Fintech Nexus: Bridging the World, Building the Future".
Our position at the forefront of global fintech is not merely rhetorical, but a proven reality on the world stage. As one of the top international financial centres globally and a leading force in Asia, Hong Kong continues to make confident strides in expanding its fintech capability.
Today, Hong Kong continues to be one of the most prestigious centres on development of fintech. We are proud to host a thriving community of more than 1 400 fintech companies, including eight digital banks, four virtual insurers, and 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms.
Our success does not happen by accident. It stems from sustained policy vision, strong regulatory direction, and a firm commitment to implementation. Let me highlight the major milestones we have achieved over the past year across a few key focus areas.
First of all in tokenisation, Hong Kong is moving beyond experimentation and into implementation. Earlier this year, we have concluded the first phase of a joint review with the HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) on the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in Hong Kong's fixed income market, confirming that Hong Kong's legal and regulatory framework is already sufficiently flexible to support tokenised bond issuances.
To provide the market with certainty about DLT record-keeping, we have issued a clarification affirming that a register of debenture holders maintained with the use of DLT can be deemed as fulfilling the relevant record-keeping requirements under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622).
Market adoption is growing rapidly. By the end of last year, banks in Hong Kong held more than $14 billion in digital assets under custody, while tokenised deposits reached $29 billion.
Just last month, the Government completed its fourth digital green bond issuance, raising approximately $20 billion equivalent and setting another global record for the largest digital bond issuance in the world. The offering was oversubscribed across four currencies, demonstrating strong investor demand and growing market adoption of tokenised financial products. It also marked the world's first digital bond integrating tokenised Hong Kong dollar (HKD) deposits into the settlement process, highlighting how Hong Kong continues to lead the development of next-generation financial infrastructure.
Building on this impressive momentum in tokenised finance, we are making steady progress under our digital assets policy. Under the direction of the Policy Statement 2.0 (Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets in Hong Kong), we have been broadening the range of tokenised products, expanding practical use cases and strengthening collaboration across the financial ecosystem. In particular, the HKMA granted stablecoin issuer licences to two entities in April this year, with one licensed issuer beginning to issue its regulated HKD-pegged stablecoin in August 2026 and the other expected to do the same very soon.
In parallel with digital asset innovation, we are scaling artificial intelligence and data infrastructure across our financial sectors. Through the Generative AI Sandbox++ launched by the HKMA, the SFC (Securities and Futures Commission), the Insurance Authority, and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority alongside Cyberport, we expanded the sandbox initiative to multiple financial sectors, including banking, securities and capital markets, asset and wealth management, insurance, mandatory provident fund, and also stored value facilities.
To complement these technological capabilities, we are continuing to broaden the reach of our financial data infrastructure. We are actively encouraging more government departments and institutions to integrate with the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) and explore the feasibility of automated payment. This will enable banks to conduct a business registration search through CDI, enhancing efficiency in credit approval.
Digital finance is also integrated in our new financial development of the commodity market. As a key infrastructure to develop Hong Kong into a trusted international gold trading, clearing, and reserve hub, the Government has commenced the trial operation of the central clearing and settlement system for over-the-counter gold transactions. In this system, we have established a central digital ledger to record settlement activities and interface seamlessly with designated vaults to facilitate and record physical gold deposits and withdrawals. Before we officially launch this system in Q1 next year as stated in the Policy Address, we will also have the system connected to the Real Time Gross Settlement system to enable Delivery versus Payment settlement. Moreover, an HAU price ticker was launched to reflect indicative bid/offer prices contributed by gold market participants and is now providing reference data on Bloomberg and London Stock Exchange Group platforms.
Our regulators are also forerunners in fintech development. As stated in the 2026 Policy Address, the SFC will improve its regulatory framework to facilitate the issuance and trading of tokenised products of gold and other suitable real-world assets on licensed platforms. The HKEX (Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited) is striving to launch a pilot project for tokenised warehouse-receipt financing with designated banks next year, using physical tracking technologies to promote the use of commodity inventories as collateral. The HKEX is also developing a blockchain-backed, multi-asset tokenisation platform which will include commodity warehouse receipts from LME (London Metal Exchange)-approved warehouses for a pilot next year. All these are leveraging our strength in fintech to support our building of a more integrated gold ecosystem and injecting new momentum into the development of the financial sector.
Looking ahead, we are doubling down on this momentum with a clear, forward focused strategy. We will continue to leverage our strengths in Finance+ and AI+ to consolidate our status as an international financial centre, driving fintech development to capitalise on new growth opportunities. This is not just about maintaining our lead. It is also about shaping the next chapter of global finance, where capital flows more intelligently and technology addresses real world economic challenges.
So I invite each of you, every one of you here today, to join us at the Hong Kong FinTech Week x StartmeupHK Festival. Let us explore the boundless possibilities of fintech in Hong Kong. Let us pave the way for a connected, efficient, and sustainable global economy.
Thank you.
Oct232026