Norman T L Chan: Bond Connect – enhancing Hong Kong as an international financial centre Remarks by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Bond Connect Launch Ceremony, Hong Kong, 3 July 2017. * * * The Honourable Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Deputy Director Huang Liuquan, Deputy Director Qiu Hong, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng, Mr CK Chow, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 1. Good Morning. 2. I am very pleased to join you today for the launch of Bond Connect. Bond Connect marks another milestone of mutual access of capital markets between the Mainland and Hong Kong, following the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. It is also another important measure of the Central Government to support Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 3. A key function of Hong Kong as an international financial centre is financial intermediation, providing efficient and safe conduits for fund flows. The establishment and smooth operation of these conduits shall be underpinned by suitable and sound financial infrastructures. Over the years, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has endeavoured to build our financial infrastructures, from the Real Time Gross Settlement system to the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) for debt securities settlement, which have laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 4. Bond Connect is a new financial infrastructure established through the connection between HKMA’s CMU and the relevant central securities depositories (CSDs) on the Mainland.
There were few plans for large-scale investment, and they mainly concerned the renewal of modernization of existing equipment. Retail sales contracted in February, after posting a substantial rise in January. Employment levels remained stable in industry, except in the automobile sector, where they declined. The retail and market services sectors showed little change, but employment fell in the building industry. Increasing use was made of flexi-time, annualized working time and part-time working to respond to variations in demand. BIS Review 32/1997