Hong Kong records higher rating in Global Financial Centres Index and maintains third place globally
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A Government spokesman said, "The report reaffirms Hong Kong's leading position and strengths as an international financial centre. Hong Kong continued to rank first globally in fintech offerings. In the assessment by practitioners in various financial industry sectors, Hong Kong's rankings generally improved. Notably, Hong Kong's rankings in the 'banking' and 'finance' sectors leapt to first place worldwide. Hong Kong continued to top the global ranking in the 'insurance' sector, while the ranking in the 'investment management' sector rose to second place globally. In addition, Hong Kong's rankings in the five areas of competitiveness, namely 'business environment', 'human capital', 'infrastructure', 'financial sector development' and 'reputational and general', continued to stay among the global top three positions."
The Government spokesman added, "This year marks the beginning of the National 15th Five-Year Plan. As the world is evolving quickly, Hong Kong will respond to the current complex and ever-changing global political and economic landscape with an innovative mindset. At the same time, we will proactively align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan, foster new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions and accelerate the high-quality economic and financial development. Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique advantages under the 'one country, two systems' principle to play its role as a 'super connector' and 'super value-adder' and seize the opportunities emerging from the reshaping of the global investment landscape.
"As a leading international financial centre, Hong Kong will drive 'Finance+', capitalising on the city's robust financial system to better serve the real economy and industries with competitive edge, and press ahead with mutual empowerment of finance and innovation and technology. In so doing, we can leverage our strengths to serve the country's needs. A series of policy measures announced in the Budget last month would help Hong Kong's financial services grow bigger and stronger.
"We will continue to enhance the securities market and improve market efficiency, including encouraging more overseas and Mainland enterprises to list in Hong Kong, further optimising the regimes for listing on the Main Board and issuing structured products, and pushing forward the shortening of the stock settlement cycle to T+1, among other measures. To enrich mutual-market access, we will also continue to work on the inclusion of an RMB trading counter under Stock Connect's Southbound trading for Hong Kong stocks.
"As a global offshore Renminbi (RMB) business hub, Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique strengths and proactively align with national development strategies, promoting more measures on better using offshore RMB and Chinese Government Bonds, and pursuing greater openness of RMB capital accounts.
"This year, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will set up an office in Hong Kong that serves both its financing and operational functions. This move reflects the bank's confidence in Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre, leveraging our vibrant capital markets, world-class professional services, and diversified financial products to support its operations in financing, bond issuance, and financial management, among others.
"Hong Kong is committed to extending the financial value chain on top of our existing strengths in finance. The Government is expediting the building of an international gold trading market. We are working at full steam to establish Hong Kong's central clearing system for gold, with a view to commencing trial operations this year. We will also explore offering tax incentives for eligible institutions conducting gold trading and settlement in Hong Kong, as well as assisting the industry in developing a training framework.
"On asset and wealth management business, Hong Kong-domiciled authorised funds recorded net inflows of HK$357 billion last year, fully reflecting the affirmation and confidence of international investors in the Hong Kong market. The development of the family office ecosystem continues to be robust. As of the end of last year, the number of single family offices in Hong Kong exceeded 3 380, representing growth of more than 25 per cent over the past two years. Hong Kong will continue to take a multipronged approach, including enhancing tax arrangements, implementing the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme and conducting global investment promotion activities, to vigorously drive the development of family offices and consolidate Hong Kong's functions as an international asset and wealth management centre and an international risk management centre.
"The Government will continue to actively develop fintech and digital assets. The regime for stablecoin issuers was implemented in August last year, and the first batch of licences will be issued soon. We are also formulating the legislative proposals regarding the licensing regimes for digital asset dealing services and custodian services to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework, with a view to developing Hong Kong as a global digital asset innovation centre.
"On green and sustainable finance, Hong Kong was confirmed last year by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation as among the initial set of jurisdictions having set a target of fully adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards - Sustainability Disclosure Standards. We will support the exploration with the Chinese Mainland and international multilateral financial institutions of the establishment of a Hong Kong-based Green Technology Projects Accelerator. The Accelerator will provide incubation, acceleration, and empowerment services for green technology projects in Belt and Road regions, and serve as an innovative demonstration of Hong Kong's green finance-related services."
The GFCI Report has been released every March and September since 2007. In GFCI 39, 120 financial centres were assessed, and Hong Kong ranked third globally with an overall rating of 765.
Ends/Thursday, March 26, 2026
Issued at HKT 18:07
Issued at HKT 18:07
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