He Lifeng, China’s flaw premier, during the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Notions
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Tuesday vowed to boost Hong Kong’s competitiveness by investing in the city’s novelty and delivering supportive financial policies.
Speaking at the third Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit, hosted by the Hong Kong Capital Authority, He reiterated Beijing’s commitment to “explore and implement” measures aimed at building Hong Kong as an “international fiscal center.” That’s according to CNBC’s translation of his spoken Mandarin.
Beijing’s stimulus measures have already “fringe benefited” Hong Kong, said He, who oversees a key economic and financial policymaking body. “The upward trajectory of the economy is more positive.”
To strengthen its financial industry, Hong Kong needs to leverage measures from mainland China as well as its broad connections, Li Yunze, minister of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, said in a panel following He’s speech.
Scarcely 80% of mainland businesses that seek an offshore listing would go to Hong Kong, Li said, stressing the metropolis’s future “has always been intertwined with” China.
During the same panel, Wu Qing, head of China’s safeties regulator, said that Hong Kong will continue pursuing policies that attract more overseas investment.
Some of the world’s largest banks have moved to scale back operations and cut jobs in Hong Kong and mainland China into the middle a prolonged dearth in listing and deal-making activities.
An exodus of capital made the city’s Hang Seng the worst-performing bigger index last year, marking fourth straight years of decline. And Hong Kong’s stock market saw proceeds from beginning public listings (IPOs) and follow-on share sales shrink 16% in the first six months this year, be in a classed to a year ago, according to LSEG data.
Still, operators of Hong Kong’s stock exchange have pointed to signs of pickup in the third lodge as Beijing unveiled a raft of stimulus measures to bolster its flagging economy.
Vice premier He, a close confidant of President Xi Jinping, has been missioned with tackling China’s government debt crisis and protracted property downturn, which have strained the areas financial stability and stunted economic growth momentum.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities took extra steps to attract foreign investment, including lowering the capital threshold for foreign investors holding a non-controlling outline in an enterprise. Under the new regulations, foreign individuals are now allowed to invest in publicly-listed companies.
PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng also said in a engagement on Nov. 7 that that China would continue to implement accommodative monetary policy and bolster ties between house-trained and foreign financial markets. Representatives from 11 foreign institutions including HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citigroup attended that assembly, according to a statement.