By this time next year, I should be able to report progress made in Hong Kong as well as in the international arena. 14. Let me conclude my speech with the big picture: Hong Kong, as the premier IFC in Asia, is uniquely well positioned under the One Country, Two Systems arrangements to benefit from the internationalisation of RMB and the Belt and Road Initiative. Whatever you have seen or witnessed in the past few years is merely the very beginning of a multi-decade long process. China has been on average contributing more than one third of global growth in the past 10 years and is clearly the most powerful engine for growth in the years to come. China has reached a stage that it has the necessary technology and surplus capital for its corporates to “go out”. Hong Kong, which has been the major hub and springboard for foreign corporates to “go into” China since the beginning of China’s reform and opening programme, has now taken up the extremely crucial role of serving as the hub and springboard for China’s new “going out” era. 15. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure to be able to talk to you today. As a treasury market practitioner, you are in the right place at the right time. Hong Kong is a place that will offer enormous headroom for growth.
In this context, in addition to the intensive work on the CTC project that I have just described, the HKMA is also busily working on a number of other market development initiatives. One of such initiatives that I wish to highlight today is our effort seeking to modernise the legal framework and tax treatment to make it attractive for private equity funds to domicile in Hong Kong. The objective of this project is simple: to strengthen Hong Kong’s leading position as a private equity fund hub in Asia. 8. Market development is a never ending race. It is not enough for us to be making good progress and improvements every now and then. We must be able to improve and move faster than our peers if we wish to stay ahead of the game. 9. Now that I am talking about ‘brand’, it should be no surprise to you if I now return to the theme of my first choice, “culture and ethics”. Just like any luxury goods, a brand in the context of IFC entails quality and credibility. Quality requires technical competence in a wide range of financial services, such as FX, interest rate, credit, hedging, derivatives, ECM, DCM, asset management, private equity, etc. I think Hong Kong is in a good position in all these markets. We have done rather well in all these markets and should be able to further deepen and broaden them given the exceptional opportunities emerging from the internationalisation of RMB and the latest Belt and Road Initiative.