Hengqin, located in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province off Macao's western border, will support the development of Macao's characteristic financial industries, a government official in Hengqin said on Tuesday morning, according to a filing sent by the Hengqin local government to the Global Times.
"Macao and Zhuhai have already established a normalization mechanism for financial cooperation. Cross-border financial services and connectivity have achieved breakthroughs (between the two areas)," the filing read.
Macao is an "ideal choice" for the setup of an alternative financial hub apart from Hong Kong given the latter's social unrest, said Xi Junyang, an economics professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
Hengqin will also speed up the pace of promoting the construction of the Guangdong-Macao Financial Cooperation (Zhuhai) Demonstration Zone, Kang Hong, vice director of the Hengqin New Area Management Committee, said at the one-year anniversary of the Hengqin Intelligent Financial Industry Park.
According to the filing, the demonstration zone has already been settled in Hengqin. The zone will help usher in organizations that can support and serve Macao's characteristic financial industries while experimenting with cross-border financial policies.
The industry park has signed a cooperation contract with Macao Venture Capital Association to jointly give financial support to medium- and small-size tech enterprises in Macao and Zhuhai.
Recently, signs have been emerging that the Chinese mainland and Macao will enhance cross-border financial cooperation. The Monetary Authority of Macao said on October 13 that it had authorized global consultancies to conduct a feasibility study on setting up a yuan-denominated securities market in Macao and relevant work is being conducted in an orderly manner.
In contrast with Macao and the mainland's continued exploration for financial and other cooperation avenues, Hong Kong has been stuck in social unrest for months, with some Hong Kong-based rioters demanding "independence" using violent protest methods.
Hong Kong has been a main financial channel for Chinese mainland companies to connect with the world, but this has been swayed by the unrest, Xi told the Global Times on Tuesday.
"Given that the unrest in Hong Kong may continue for a period of time, it is necessary to cultivate another financial hub to partially undertake Hong Kong's function as a path for China's financial opening-up," Xi said.
"Macao is clearly an ideal choice. It can be expected that the mainland's financial activities, which used to be launched through Hong Kong, will gradually transfer to Macao," he predicted, adding that Macao's financial sector has great prospects and the city will gradually set up a sound financial system with help from the mainland.
