Hong Kong Treasury Bureau: will collaborate with Shenzhen to create a deeply integrated regional gold trading ecosystem.

On November 7th, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered a speech at the third meeting of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Committee. He mentioned that international gold trading is a newly emerging area with huge development potential. He stated that, taking advantage of the meeting, he will soon sign a cooperation memorandum with the Shenzhen Local Financial Supervision Bureau to jointly create a deeply integrated regional gold trading ecosystem. In addition, financial technology is also a key focus of development for both regions. Paul Chan Mo-po mentioned that plans are underway to deepen cooperation in the financial technology sector with Shenzhen, including improving financial infrastructure, creating a more active financial technology ecosystem, nurturing financial technology talents in both regions, and strengthening connections and cooperation between the financial industries of both regions. Paul Chan Mo-po introduced that since the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Committee in June last year, both official and industry personnel from both regions have actively worked towards deepening financial cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong, and have made significant progress and fruitful achievements in various areas. He stated that with the country's advancement of a high-level two-way opening-up strategy, mainland Chinese companies are presented with important opportunities for "going global". Hong Kong fully utilizes its role as a dual-direction platform for "introducing in and going out", continuously optimizes the listing approval process, and has launched a "fast track for technology companies" this year, specifically designed to assist mainland technology companies with financing in Hong Kong, and to support mainland companies in setting up financial centers and regional headquarters in Hong Kong. As the core engine of innovation and technology in mainland China, Shenzhen has gathered a large number of internationally competitive enterprises, and through the support of Hong Kong's professional services, it collaborates to help mainland enterprises expand their markets and achieve international development. Various mechanisms such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Bond Connect, the Interbank Bond Market Connect, and the Greater Bay Area Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect have been flourishing since their launch. For example, the Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect 2.0, introduced last year, has been well received by investors in the Greater Bay Area, with a significant increase in the number of investors and cross-border remittance amounts, which have grown by more than eight times compared to the original "Wealth Management Connect 1.0". The effectiveness is evident. This year, the Cross-Border Payment Connect was also launched, achieving interoperability between the mainland and Hong Kong's fast payment systems, better meeting the cross-border remittance and payment needs of residents in both regions, especially within the Greater Bay Area. Paul Chan Mo-po stated that efforts will continue to optimize existing cross-border mechanisms, cooperate with mainland financial regulators to include Real Estate Investment Trusts in the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and to include RMB stock trading counters in the Hong Kong Stock Connect. At the same time, active exploration of more innovative products and channels will be carried out to enrich investors' choices and further promote the opening-up of the national financial market.