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The Asian Financial Forum successfully concluded today (September 21) with enthusiastic exchanges among local, Mainland overseas financial services leaders and experts.
The forum, carrying the theme "Leveraging New Opportunities, Advancing Regional Stability" is the first event of its kind hosted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to highlight and reinforce Hong Kong's prestige as an international financial centre.
The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, in his opening speech outlined the developments of the Asian financial market over the past decade, the implications these developments had brought about and the work to do to meet the new challenges ahead. "Over the past decade, we have seen two very positive developments in the region," he said.
They two developments were the growing significance of Asia in the world market, particularly the emergence of China and India; and the considerable progress made by many regional economies to strengthen their financial markets and infrastructure, he said.
However, Mr Tsang also cautioned about the implications. "Looking ahead, there are a number of concerns for all of us: volatile capital flows and their potential to destabilise a market, particularly an emerging market where infrastructure is immature; interest rate uncertainty or adjustments triggering a reassessment of risks, possibly resulting in sudden capital flight; and, the uncertainty caused by the growing prominence of hedge funds and other largely unregulated entities in financial market.
"To address the risks arising from volatile capital flows, regulators should stress test their systems to assess the impact on liquidity and pricing arising from the unwinding of large positions. This should reveal how market stability could be affected and help us prepare for any such shock," he said.
Mr Tsang also pointed out the importance of training financial professionals. "In this I see a considerable scope for co-operation among governments, regulators, market participants and academia. Only through such concerted efforts can we hope to produce enough talent to service the needs of the industry in Asia¡¨.
Also delivering a keynote speech at the luncheon, the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, explained Hong Kong's role within the global financial community, with special focus on Hong Kong's position as China's global financial centre.
He outlined Hong Kong's strategy for developing a "mutually-assisting, complementary and inter-active relationship" with Mainland's financial system in five broad areas.
These were expanding the presence of Hong Kong's financial institutions in the Mainland through the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), increasing Hong Kong's role in the outward mobility of funds from the Mainland via the Quality Domestic Institutional Investor Scheme (QDII) and the recently announced pilot scheme to allow Mainland individuals to buy Hong Kong stocks directly, offering of Hong Kong financial instruments to the Mainland in various forms, continuing to develop the handling of Renminbi-denominated transactions, and dovetailing the infrastructure of the financial systems of both markets.
"While we will be working hard at how to boost our interface with the Mainland's developing market and systems, we will also be reaching further afield to promote our financial services to the rest of the world," the Financial Secretary said.
Concluding the forum, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan said, "The forum has been very successful and I am delighted to see the enthusiastic exchanges among so many distinguished leaders and influential members of the global financial community on their views on global and regional financial co-operation, as well as their insights on economic development across the region."
Professor Chan also thanked all the speakers, the relevant ministries and commissions of the Mainland and participating countries for their full support for the forum.
"Looking ahead, we will continue to participate in and to promote global and regional co-operation in financial services.
The forum is an initiative announced by the Chief Executive in his 2006 Policy Address. It was co-organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. More than 800 guests from global institutional investors, financial service institutions and high-growth corporates participated in today's forum by invitation.
People may visit the website www.asianfinancialforum.com to obtain more information on the forum.
Ends/Friday, September 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:11
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