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The following is issued on behalf of the Financial Services Development Council:
The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) today (December 7) released three research reports to promote Hong Kong's asset management business, focusing on fund distribution, tax issues relating to private equity investments and an alternative legal structure for private equity funds.
The reports are entitled "Strengthening Hong Kong as a Retail Fund Distribution Centre", "A Paper on the Tax Issues on Open-ended Fund Companies and Profits Tax Exemption for Offshore Private Equity Funds" and "A Paper on Limited Partnership for Private Equity Funds". Drawing on the experience and expertise of market participants, each report contains an in-depth discussion of the respective topic and sets out recommendations for the Government, regulators and industry to consider in further developing Hong Kong's asset management business.
The Chairman of the FSDC, Mrs Laura M Cha, said, "These reports exemplify how the FSDC collaborates with practitioners on the formulation of proposals conducive to enhancing the long-term development of different sectors of Hong Kong's financial market.
"The FSDC will continue to maintain constructive discussion with various stakeholders of the industry with a view to identifying new opportunities to facilitate the sustainable growth of the local financial services industry."
The report entitled "Strengthening Hong Kong as a Retail Fund Distribution Centre" outlines objectives to make Hong Kong a leading fund distribution centre in the Asia-Pacific region. Apart from examining the current fund distribution landscape in Hong Kong and the latest developments in both local and overseas markets, the report provides a number of recommendations to improve and facilitate fund distribution in Hong Kong, such as the setting up of more diversified distribution channels and providing additional guidelines on suitability requirements.
The report entitled "A Paper on the Tax Issues on Open-ended Fund Companies and Profits Tax Exemption for Offshore Private Equity Funds" is a follow-up to the FSDC's report on "Proposals on Legal and Regulatory Framework for Open-ended Investment Companies in Hong Kong" published in November 2013. It sets out recommendations relating to the tax regime for open-ended fund companies, which is currently under review by the Government, as well as the profits tax exemption criteria for private equity funds.
The report entitled "A Paper on Limited Partnership for Private Equity Funds" examines the current Limited Partnerships Ordinance and proposes an alternative limited partnership structure to strengthen Hong Kong's competitive position as a centre for private equity. Its recommendations are consistent with government initiatives to launch an open-ended fund company regime in Hong Kong which will help create new jobs in the Hong Kong financial services industry.
The full versions of the three reports can be downloaded from the FSDC website: www.fsdc.org.hk.
About the FSDC
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government established the FSDC in 2013 as a high-level, cross-sectoral advisory body to engage the industry in formulating proposals to promote the further development of Hong Kong's financial services industry and to map out the strategic direction for development.
The FSDC has set up five committees, namely the Policy Research Committee, the Mainland Opportunities Committee, the New Business Committee, the Market Development Committee and the Human Capital Committee.
Ends/Monday, December 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:30
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