Alan Au: Hong Kong is a reliable partner for Bank Negara Malaysia to explore further collaboration on topics such as the gold market, tokenization, renminbi business, and Islamic bonds.

Recently, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan, discussed the cooperation space in the financial and gold markets with government officials and industry players in Malaysia. During a meeting with Adnan Zaylani Mohamad Zahid, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, Chan pointed out that Hong Kong's diverse capital market, coupled with its well-capitalized banking system, makes it a reliable partner for the Central Bank of Malaysia to explore further cooperation in the gold market, tokenization, Renminbi business, and Islamic bonds. Chan also met with Anil Singh Gill, President of the Malaysian FinTech Association, and introduced him to the main measures for developing financial technology. Chan emphasized that Hong Kong, with its stable regulatory environment and abundant business opportunities, is an ideal place for developing financial technology. Another goal of this visit is to attract more Malaysian businesses to set up family offices in Hong Kong. Chan had lunch meetings with representatives from several family offices and related private investment companies, including Sunway Group, Success Group, Royal Selangor, and RHL Ventures. He introduced them to the thriving family office sector in Hong Kong, noting that the number of single family offices in Hong Kong has grown by more than 25% in the past two years. The market also expects that the cross-border wealth managed by Hong Kong between 2025 and 2030 will grow at an average annual rate of about 9%. To create a more attractive business environment for family offices, Hong Kong has also submitted legislative proposals to further optimize preferential tax regimes, including covering more eligible investment types such as private debt investment and precious metals. Chan attended the Global Family Office Summit organized by the Hong Kong Trustees' Association's Kuala Lumpur office. In his keynote speech, he assured attendees that with its robust regulatory system, forward-looking fiscal framework, and long-standing position as a top global family office hub, Hong Kong is truly an anchor in the ever-changing global landscape for them. He further explained, "The data on Hong Kong is not just shining numbers on paper, but a powerful and undeniable market signal indicating that ultra-high net worth families are actually establishing their presence in Hong Kong, staying and developing here, and laying the foundation for the intergenerational inheritance of their family businesses. Earlier this month, our securities regulatory authority released an annual survey showing that assets under management in Hong Kong are expected to surge by 20% annually to a record $5.4 trillion by 2025. Net capital inflows into Hong Kong nearly doubled annually, reaching $265 billion." He encouraged attendees to use Hong Kong as a gateway to deploy private capital and invest in unlimited global opportunities. By establishing family offices in Hong Kong, they can leverage Hong Kong's advantages to unlock unparalleled structural synergies, including relying on Hong Kong as the world's largest offshore Renminbi business center, the new gold central clearing and settlement system supervised by the government-owned Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing System Limited, and the initial launch of the "physical connection" with the Shanghai Gold Exchange. During a meeting with the President of the Malaysian Jewellers Association, Pang Ang Kwai, Chan expressed Hong Kong's commitment to building a scalable unified platform for global participants, providing reliable services such as clearing, interconnection, price discovery, risk management, storage, and insurance. Key market participants have shown strong support for Hong Kong's pilot operation of the gold central clearing and settlement system, with trading volumes of US dollar gold futures contracts reaching record highs, and a considerable amount of gold being deposited in designated warehouses. The Malaysian gold industry can explore cooperation opportunities with Hong Kong through these new initiatives.