Yu Weiwen: Hong Kong's unique position gains trust from global investors, evident advantages in diversified allocation.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Chief Executive Eddie Yue stated that last year, Hong Kong's asset management scale increased by 13% to around $4.5 trillion, with private wealth management scale growing by 15%. He believes that this growth trend will continue this year and in the coming years, primarily due to the increasing wealth in Asia and market seeking diversified asset allocations under fragmented geo-economic conditions, positioning Hong Kong favorably. Yue also pointed out that Hong Kong is a part of China and also a part of the global financial system, and its special and unique position can gain trust from global, including mainland Chinese, investors. Additionally, in the past few years, Hong Kong has been leading in areas such as central bank digital currency, tokenization, and AI applications. The Hong Kong government, regulatory bodies, and the industry have been actively cooperating, all of which are beneficial for the development of Hong Kong's wealth management sector. He mentioned that the HKMA launched the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenA.I.) sandbox last year, emphasizing the importance of accuracy, consistency, and interpretability when using AI technology in the industry. He also mentioned collaborations with institutions such as the BIS Innovation Hub and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the Noor project to develop an interpretable AI tool for banks to use AI with confidence, with the tool prototype expected to be launched next year. Yue also announced that the HKMA will further collaborate with Cyberport next year to establish AI infrastructure, providing services including computational power, data ecosystem, and data analysis tools to benefit small-scale institutions in various industries with AI applications.