Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Wednesday that Hong Kong has the potential to develop green finance and the government will intensify its efforts to seek opportunities in this area.
When delivering the 2017-18 Budget, Chan said Hong Kong possesses the right conditions for developing green finance.
To tap into the potential of the green finance market, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited, Hong Kong's subway company, took the lead in raising capital through the issuance of green bonds last October. The government will beef up efforts to promote the region's competitive capital market and encourage the sector to explore opportunities brought by green finance, he said.
Chan mentioned that amid the unstable external environment, Hong Kong's financial services industry maintained a robust performance, contributing 18 percent of its GDP and employing over 250,000 people. The industry serves as a key driving force for the region's steady economic growth.
He said that Hong Kong continued to rank top globally in terms of the volume of RMB foreign exchange transactions. With the wider use of RMB in the international arena, the government will continue to explore with Mainland authorities ways to open up more channels for two-way cross-border RMB fund flows.
"We will implement a number of measures as below to develop Hong Kong into Asia's asset and wealth management centre. To facilitate Hong Kong's development into a full-fledged fund service centre, we propose to extend the profits tax exemption to onshore privately-offered open-ended fund companies," Chan said, adding that the proposal will help attract more funds to domicile in Hong Kong and build up Hong Kong's fund manufacturing capabilities.
The financial chief said, although the global financial market will remain volatile in the foreseeable future, he believes Hong Kong has the strength to ride out the challenges arising from these changes and seize the opportunities to reinforce Hong Kong's status as an international financial center.
