Hui Ching-yu: Hong Kong is the most robust international platform for Chinese enterprises to explore international markets.

On October 29, Hui Ching-yu, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, delivered opening remarks at the "Shanghai-Hong Kong Heart-to-Heart Connection, Helping Enterprises Sail Far 2026 Shanghai-Hong Kong Cooperation and Exchange Forum and Seminar on Serving Chinese Enterprises Going Global" in Shanghai. He pointed out that the current global economic and trade landscape, industrial division of labor, and capital flows are undergoing profound adjustments. The acceleration of globalization by Chinese enterprises, especially Shanghai's state-owned enterprises and leading technology companies, has become an inevitable trend for high-quality development. Relying on the unique institutional advantages of "One Country, Two Systems," the common law system, and a regulatory and professional services framework aligned with international standards, Hong Kong continues to play the role of the country's "super connector" and "super value-adder." It is absolutely the most robust international platform for Chinese enterprises to explore international markets, conduct cross-border mergers and acquisitions, manage overseas operations, and handle risk management. To precisely meet enterprises' strategic needs in going global, Hui Ching-yu proposed four major directions: First, leverage the advantages of the offshore RMB hub. Hong Kong has the world's largest and most liquid offshore RMB liquidity pool and handles the vast majority of global offshore RMB settlement business. Enterprises going global can use Hong Kong for cross-border RMB financing, settlement, and exchange, and for unified management of overseas working capital, thereby effectively responding to exchange rate fluctuations, reducing cross-border capital allocation costs, and promoting the widespread use of RMB in overseas trade, project investment, and production capacity cooperation scenarios. Second, make good use of the multi-tiered capital market. Hong Kong's comprehensive multi-tiered capital market provides Shanghai state-owned enterprises and technology companies with financing channels covering the entire life cycle. Hong Kong's stock market continues to consolidate its position as the world's preferred IPO fundraising platform, has long led Asia in international bond financing, and has ranked among Asia's top for green and sustainable bond issuance for consecutive years. At the same time, Hong Kong is continuously optimizing the tax concession regime for family offices and asset management, having gathered a large number of the world's top private equity funds and international capital. Third, improve the treasury and risk management ecosystem. The SAR government continues to implement supporting measures for corporate treasury centers and cross-border risk management, precisely addressing the core pain points of Chinese enterprises going global. The SAR government, together with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Invest Hong Kong, launched the "Hong Kong Corporate Treasury Center Development Action Plan," which, through four major actions including a halved profits tax rate concession (i.e., 8.25 percent) and targeted promotion, actively guides quality mainland enterprises to establish treasury centers or regional operating headquarters in Hong Kong. In addition, in the process of going global, "controlling risk" is as important as "finding funding." The SAR government, together with the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (HKIA), strongly encourages mainland enterprises to establish captive insurance companies in Hong Kong and develop insurance-linked securities, helping enterprises internalize global business risks and address cross-border risks such as overseas operations and extreme catastrophic events. Fourth, deepen connectivity in gold and bulk commodities and enhance international pricing influence. The connectivity between the Shanghai gold market and the Hong Kong market is precisely a highly important new direction for Shanghai-Hong Kong financial collaboration. The country is actively advancing the construction of a bulk commodity trading ecosystem, and Shanghai and Hong Kong can absolutely leverage their respective advantages to deepen cooperation in cross-border trading, pricing, settlement, and risk hedging of gold and precious metals. Hui Ching-yu said he looks forward to close alignment with Shanghai to help enterprises going global enhance their pricing influence in the global bulk commodity market, improve cross-border asset allocation, and safeguard international trade for the real economy. Hui Ching-yu said the SAR government earlier established a cross-departmental task force on supporting enterprises going global, which works with various regulators to provide tailor-made one-stop services. To date, the task force has cumulatively assisted hundreds of mainland enterprises in building international platforms in Hong Kong, driving large first-year direct investment and covering core areas such as advanced manufacturing, the digital economy, green energy, and cross-border trade. He continued that in the future, the SAR government will continue to follow the blueprint of the "Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan" and the Policy Address, continuously optimize relevant policies, and deepen regular cooperation with institutions such as the Shanghai SASAC and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, leveraging the synergistic effect of "finance+." Combining Hong Kong's top-tier professional services in green finance, fintech, cross-border compliance, intellectual property protection, and international dispute resolution, it will support Shanghai state-owned enterprises, technology companies, and other mainland enterprises in using Hong Kong as a bridge to promote the outward export of new quality productive forces and provide full-process support for enterprises going global.