Z/Yen from the United Kingdom and the China Development Institute from Shenzhen published the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) 40 Report today (September 16). Hong Kong's overall rank maintained third place globally and first place in Asia Pacific.
      
     A Government spokesman said, "The report strongly reaffirms Hong Kong's leading position and strengths as an international financial centre. Hong Kong continued to rank first globally in fintech offerings. The city also ranked high in the five areas of competitiveness. Among them, Hong Kong's ranking in 'financial sector development' rose to first place worldwide. While remaining second in rank for the area of 'human capital', Hong Kong's ranking in 'business environment' and 'infrastructure' also rose to second place. In addition, in the assessment by practitioners in various financial industry sectors, Hong Kong continued to achieve outstanding performance. In particular, Hong Kong's ranking in the 'investment management' sector rose to first place worldwide. Hong Kong continued to top the global ranking in the 'insurance' and 'finance' sectors."
      
     The Government spokesman added, "Under the complex and volatile geopolitical situation, Hong Kong will continue to play its role as a 'super connector' and 'super value-adder' by leveraging our unique advantages in connectivity, internationalisation, diversity and inclusiveness under the 'one country, two systems' principle, striving to create a stable and secure investment environment for global investors to meet their growing demand for diversified asset allocation.
      
     "The First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) (Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan) promulgated by the Chief Executive today sets out the forward-looking, strategic and directional guiding blueprint for Hong Kong's economic and social development over the next five years. On finance, we will adhere to the principle of seeking growth through stability and in turn reinforcing stability through growth to expand our existing financial advantages, including financing, risk management, asset management, etc. Meanwhile, we will also take forward 'Finance+' to amplify the advantages and radiating capability of finance, thereby empowering the development of various sectors, serving the real economy, benefiting society and the public, and further consolidating Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre. The Chief Executive's 2026 Policy Address has also formulated various financial policy measures to pragmatically implement the blueprint set out in Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan, promoting Hong Kong's financial development on all fronts.
      
     "We will further enhance the competitiveness of the securities market by continuously refining the listing regime and trading mechanism, including supporting more Mainland and overseas enterprises to come to Hong Kong for listing and financing, improving market efficiency, and implementing the uncertificated securities market regime, etc. We will also strive to further enhance the mutual market access mechanism between Hong Kong and the Mainland. This will provide investors broader and more diversified investment channels, while deepening the connectivity and co-ordinated development of the two capital markets.
      
     "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. These include exploring with the People's Bank of China ways to optimise the currency swap agreement arrangements, making full use of the enhanced RMB Business Facility implemented in July this year, expanding direct exchange arrangements between offshore RMB and other currencies, and enriching RMB products, with a view to enhancing the radiating capability of offshore RMB and serving the real economy better.
      
     "This year, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will set up an office in Hong Kong that serves both its financing and operational functions, reflecting the bank's confidence in Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre. Hong Kong's vibrant capital markets, diversified financial products, and high-quality professional services will effectively support the bank's operations in financing, bond issuance, and financial management, among others.
      
     "Hong Kong is committed to building a commodity trading ecosystem, with gold trading as an entry point. We have a comprehensive plan to build a gold ecosystem in the Asian time zone and align with major international gold trading centres in the long run. The trial operation of Hong Kong's gold central clearing and settlement system has commenced, and we are also working at full steam to implement a series of measures to promote physical delivery, develop investment products, derivative products and risk management tools, provide tax concessions, and deepen connectivity with the Mainland gold market, thereby enhancing Hong Kong's status as an international gold trading, clearing and reserve hub.
      
     "Hong Kong is a world-leading cross-boundary wealth management centre. For the year 2025, assets under management jumped 20 per cent year-on-year to a record high of HK$42.2 trillion, and net fund inflow coming into Hong Kong almost tripled year-on-year to HK$2.1 trillion. The Government has introduced a Bill into the Legislative Council in June this year in order to further enhance the competitiveness of the preferential tax regimes for the asset and wealth management industry, with a view to attracting more funds and family offices to establish a presence in Hong Kong, and more global capital to be managed in Hong Kong. We will continue to take a multipronged approach to consolidate Hong Kong's functions as an international asset and wealth management centre.
      
     "Hong Kong continued to rank first globally in fintech offerings, fully reflecting that the Government's continuous and proactive development strategies in promoting fintech and digital assets have been highly effective. The regime for stablecoin issuers was implemented in August last year. Following the issuance of the first batch of licences this April, the first regulated stablecoin in Hong Kong was already launched in August. We are formulating the legislative proposals regarding the licensing regimes for virtual asset dealing, custodian, advisory and management services to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework, with a view to developing Hong Kong as a global digital asset innovation centre. We target to introduce the relevant bill into the Legislative Council within this year.
      
     "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. A Hong Kong-based Green Accelerator participated by Mainland and international multilateral financial institutions was just launched earlier this month. The Accelerator will provide incubation, acceleration, and empowerment services for green 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 40, 117 financial centres were assessed, and Hong Kong ranked third globally with an overall rating of 756.

Ends/Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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