China News Agency, Hong Kong, June 13 (Reporter Wei Huadu) Yu Weiwen, President of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), was interviewed by the media in Hong Kong recently. He mentioned that Hong Kong's future financial development opportunities mainly come from three aspects. Opportunities in Hong Kong, opportunities brought by FinTech and green finance.
He also said that the HKMA will fully cooperate with the economic work of the new SAR government.
Using fintech to solve cross-border payment problems
In terms of fintech, Yu Weiwen introduced the key project “mBridge” (multiple central bank digital currency cross-border network) being carried out by the HKMA recently. The Bank for International Settlements formed a team to study the use of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) technology to solve cross-border payment barriers, such as slow remittance speed and high handling fees.
He revealed that the "mBridge" project team has selected about 15 application scenarios, and this year will first conduct a "cross-border trade settlement" test, hoping to reduce the cost and time of cross-border settlement.
In addition, he also hopes to conduct "personal cross-border remittance" experiments.
He gave an example: "CBDC technology can help foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong send money home. If successful, it will be of great help to financial inclusion."
He said that central banks in other regions have been invited as observers of the "mBridge" project. He hopes that after the experiment is completed, more and more regions can be attracted to join and evolve into a cross-border payment network. In the future, these regions will be more convenient when making cross-border payments. a lot of.
Hong Kong continues to explore offshore RMB market
Yu Weiwen believes that the opportunities brought by the mainland to Hong Kong's financial development are reflected in the interconnection, the internationalization of the RMB and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the process of RMB internationalization will continue in the next three years.
He explained: "The mainland is the world's second largest economy, but the proportion of RMB cross-border trade settlement and the proportion of mainland bonds held by international investors are both at a low level, and there is still a lot of room for growth."
"If you want to attract trading partners to use the renminbi, you must provide a renminbi investment market. As the largest offshore renminbi trading center, Hong Kong plays an important role in attracting them to invest in Hong Kong and buy and sell renminbi." He said: "We and the People's Bank of China Discussions are underway on how to use the RMB and Hong Kong dollar swaps more flexibly to enhance currency liquidity.”
Speaking of "Dim Sum Bonds" (offshore RMB bonds), he said that the issuance of "Dim Sum Bonds" in Hong Kong in the first year of 2007 was 10 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) and increased to 109.6 billion yuan in 2021, compared with In 2020, it will grow by 87%; in the first four months of 2022, it will be 33.2 billion yuan, which is still a slight increase of 2% year-on-year despite the slowdown in economic growth.
"It can be seen that there is great potential for the continued development of dim sum debt."
Green bonds have great potential for development
Yu Weiwen also mentioned that the development of green financing includes green and sustainable bonds and loans. The total financing last year was US$57 billion, an increase of nearly 4 times compared with US$12 billion in the previous year. Green bond issuance remained on par with the same period last year.
He believes that in recent years, there is a huge demand for green finance transformation in the Mainland, and the development potential of green bonds in Hong Kong is very large, which is an area worthy of attention in the next few years.
The new SAR government will officially take office on July 1. Yu Weiwen said that the economic work that the new SAR government hopes to accomplish is in line with the direction of the HKMA, including interconnection, offshore RMB business, and family office promotion. , How to make good use of central bank digital currency, and green finance.
Therefore, the HKMA will give its full support and cooperation to consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre.
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