Eddie Yue: Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s work on market development Keynote address by Mr Eddie Yue, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the 2nd Asia Treasury and Trade Summit 2016 “Treasury Re-imagined”, organized by The Asset, Hong Kong, 11 May 2016. *  *  *  Daniel (Yu), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: 1. Good morning. I would like to thank The Asset for hosting its Asia Treasury and Trade Summit in Hong Kong again. And, it is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to this event, in particular those who have travelled from overseas. As CFOs and treasurers, you are important users of Hong Kong’s financial services. Over the years, we have listened to and worked with many of you, not just to better serve your business needs, but also as partners to help develop Hong Kong as an international financial centre. Let me therefore start this morning by sharing with you a few examples of the HKMA’s work on market development. Some of you here today may have heard these facts before, so apologies for that, but we like to repeat the good news whenever we can! Development of Hong Kong as IFC 2. First, the promotion of renminbi business. And, I’m delighted to see that discussion of the renminbi “as a treasury currency” is high on your Summit agenda today! Indeed, Hong Kong is the largest global offshore renminbi business hub, with a liquidity pool of close to RMB900 billion, the largest outside Mainland China.
Many market participants have considered CTCs useful for a number of reasons:  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  •  one, through centralising treasury activities, CTCs help effectively translate management’s vision into firm-wide policies, such as preferences on operating currencies, hedging and day-to-day transactions;  •  two, CTCs help lower funding costs through the optimal use of intra-group funding and netting, as well as external financing; make more co-ordinated use of corporate balance sheets, and; enable corporates to more effectively tap capital markets for longer term funding;  •  three, they help optimise working capital positions and facilitate daily sales through customised transactional arrangements. And by concentrating excess liquidity in CTCs, senior management can achieve better visibility and control over their cash and reduce frauds; and  •  four, they act as corporate centres to consolidate various foreign exchange and interest rate exposures and allow centralised hedging on net positions. Therefore, corporates can eliminate redundant procedures to reduce associated costs and enhance efficiencies. 17. In addition, more and more corporates are adopting technologies, such as the “Enterprise Resource Planning” System and the “Treasury Management System”, which enable them to improve control over local subsidiaries’ activities and standardise treasury operations. All in all, CTCs can play the critical role of an inhouse bank within a multinational corporation and a function that multinationals should develop in tandem with their global expansion plans. Hong Kong as a preferred CTC location 18.