PwC Welcomes Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan and the 2026 Policy Address, and Will Be Committed to Supporting the Government in Successfully Implementing Various Policy Initiatives

On September 16, PwC welcomes the Hong Kong SAR Government's publication today of "Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan" and the 2026 Policy Address. Raymund Chao, PwC China Vice Chairman and Managing Partner, said: "The Hong Kong SAR Government's first five-year plan is pragmatic and action-oriented with a clear vision. It will help promote Hong Kong's better integration into and service of the country's overall development, support Hong Kong in consolidating and enhancing its traditional advantages as the 'four centres and one'*, promote the growth of emerging industries such as innovation and technology and artificial intelligence, and accelerate cross-boundary cooperation and development such as the Northern Metropolis and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Pursuing multiple tracks in parallel will strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness in the international market. We are particularly pleased to see the Government's firm support for the free flow of capital, talent, goods and data, giving full play to the flexibility and advantages of Hong Kong's capitalist market and effectively seizing future opportunities. At the same time, the series of policy measures proposed in the Policy Address, covering various tax concessions and incentive schemes that promote further financial and economic development, will strongly support the orderly implementation of the five-year plan and continuously promote Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. PwC will be committed to supporting the Government in successfully implementing various policy initiatives and, together with all sectors of society, contributing to the wellbeing of Hong Kong." Innovation Ecosystem Kok-Hou Ng, PwC Hong Kong Cybersecurity, Data and Technology Risk Consulting Leader, said: "We support the Government in accelerating the development of the Northern Metropolis as a major growth engine for higher education and innovation and technology development. Through the coordinated development of industrial parks, universities and research institutions, we can build Hong Kong's innovation ecosystem, promote Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology centre, and attract international high-end talent to develop in Hong Kong. In addition, we are pleased to see the Government actively introducing the application and risk governance of artificial intelligence and opening up more application scenarios, which will help play a leading role in driving the market to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies to enhance Hong Kong's business efficiency and international competitiveness." Capital Markets Eddie Wong, PwC Hong Kong Capital Markets Leader, said: "We welcome the various measures proposed by the SAR Government in the Policy Address to optimise the securities market, including consultations on streamlining prospectus disclosure requirements, enhancing the competitiveness of the listing regime, revising the listing regime for specialist technology companies, and streamlining procedures to attract quality real estate investment trusts to conduct dual listings in Hong Kong. We believe that the multiple measures will encourage more Mainland and overseas enterprises to list in Hong Kong, attract more global investors to participate, and enhance the overall liquidity of Hong Kong's capital market, providing more comprehensive financing channels for enterprises at different stages of development. Hong Kong will play an important role in the country's efforts to build a financial powerhouse and will continue to serve as an important international financial hub connecting domestic and overseas enterprises and global investors." Asset and Wealth Management Marie Kwan, PwC Hong Kong Asset and Wealth Management Leader, said: "The first five-year plan and the Policy Address propose a series of forward-looking measures to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness, deepen connectivity with the Mainland, and open up more new opportunities for global capital to be managed, allocated and invested through Hong Kong. Together with the regulatory and policy optimisation measures already introduced by the Government earlier, such as improving the preferential tax regimes for funds, single family offices and carried interest, these will greatly increase Hong Kong's attractiveness to international asset management institutions, investment funds and family offices, consolidating Hong Kong's position as a cross-boundary wealth management centre and a leading asset management centre. Among them, the Policy Address's continued focus on the development of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is particularly encouraging. ETFs are one of the fastest-growing areas in the asset management industry. Measures such as promoting Mainland insurance funds' investment in Hong Kong-listed ETFs through 'ETF Connect', expanding the scope of eligible products, and promoting cross-boundary and cross-market ETF listings will effectively enhance market liquidity, attract new capital inflows, broaden the investor base, and strengthen Hong Kong's advantages as Asia's leading ETF hub." Regional Collaboration and Global Partnerships Elaine Wang, PwC China South Market Leader, said: "We welcome the first five-year plan's dedicated chapter on deepening the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, focusing on advancing 'hard connectivity' of infrastructure and 'soft connectivity' of rules and mechanisms, which is highly consistent with the direction PwC has long advocated. Among them, the Government has adopted many of the recommendations we made earlier, such as deepening Greater Bay Area integration through institutional and standards innovation. The five-year plan proposes to promote the introduction of Hong Kong's standards and management models into the Greater Bay Area in multiple areas such as arbitration and mediation, the low-altitude economy industry, information infrastructure and cross-boundary data flow; and to continuously deepen the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and achieve a higher level of opening up within the Greater Bay Area through pilot schemes. These measures will facilitate more Hong Kong professionals and service industry enterprises to develop in Mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area, work with local enterprises to formulate mutually compatible market standards and create broader cooperation scenarios, and in the long run extend the pilot experience to more Mainland cities. In addition, the Policy Address proposes a number of tax concession measures long awaited by the industry, which is very encouraging, including tax concessions for qualifying activities in the gold and commodities trading ecosystem, and a 5% or half-rate concession for individual enterprises engaged in key industries such as finance, innovation and technology research and development, headquarters activities and supply chain management. These will help further enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness as a global trade and investment centre." *Note: "Four centres and one" refers to Hong Kong's positioning as an international financial centre, an international innovation and technology centre, an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange, an international trade centre, and a highland for talent.