SFST's opening remarks at Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit (English only) (with photo)
24.3.2023

Following is the opening remarks by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, at the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit today (March 24): Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon. Welcome to the inaugural Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit organised by the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) Government. We are delighted and honoured to have you here as part of our global family office community. This summit is a unique platform for all of us to share insights, connect with peers, and discover the opportunities and attractions of Hong Kong as a dynamic international city. Through this summit, we also wish to spark dialogue on how family wealth can be put in Hong Kong "For Good" and also used "For Good", creating positive and lasting impacts across generations and borders. We look forward and stand ready to support the establishment and growth of global family offices in Hong Kong with a comprehensive set of policy measures. This morning, we issued a policy statement on developing family office businesses, which outlines eight measures tailored to the holistic and unique needs of family wealth owners. Some of these measures include a new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, tax concessions, a new Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy, art storage facilities, and facilitating measures for philanthropy. This summit marks the start of a new journey, and we sincerely invite you to explore the offerings in the policy statement with us. I am confident that together we can co-curate a family office ecosystem that benefits all. You are about to join four panel discussions that showcase a snapshot of opportunities Hong Kong has to offer. The panels cover four key themes including art, technology, green and sustainable development and philanthropy, and collectively they reflect how we intend to serve global family offices for your diverse goals and needs. Each panel features distinguished speakers who have made remarkable achievements in their fields and we are honoured to have them all here today. Moreover, many leading family offices and industry experts from Hong Kong are also joining us, and I look forward to the many collaborations arising from the new connections established today. Hong Kong is a vibrant city and an international financial hub where you can discover exciting opportunities. Our market supports innovation and next-generation technologies with financing, and facilitates them in reaching global investors through our deep and liquid markets. These achievements are not accidental but the result of constant reforms and enhancements to our fundraising platform. They indeed demonstrate the dynamism and evolving nature of our market. Last year, we welcomed 62 new economy companies to our market, raising over US$8.6 billion through IPOs (initial public offerings). This was made possible by a listing reform we introduced in 2018 to facilitate listing of pre-revenue biotech companies and innovative companies with weight voting rights structures. Moving forward, we will soon take a further step to launch a regime to expand the listing channel of specialist technology companies, for example in the sectors of artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and new energy and environmental protection. This will further diversify and enrich our market, offering more investment choices for global family offices and asset owners like all of you looking for growth opportunities. Besides reforming our IPO market, which is the traditional strength of Hong Kong, the dynamism and evolving nature of our market is also reflected by how we position ourselves facing disruptive new technologies, for example the virtual assets space. I am pleased to share with you that the Government is committed to establishing a facilitating environment with timely and necessary guardrails to mitigate actual and potential risks in accordance with international standards, so as to promote the sustainable and responsible development of the virtual assets and Web 3.0 sector in Hong Kong. This has been clearly communicated via a policy statement we issued in October last year, and it has indeed gained global attention. For family offices and asset owners, this demonstrates Hong Kong's openness and supportive approach towards emerging technologies, and with that you may explore the synergies across various sectors in Hong Kong, for example between art and virtual assets, and create new business solutions and ecosystems in our market. Ladies and gentlemen, Hong Kong is a vibrant and dynamic city that offers unparalleled opportunities for global family offices to grow and thrive. We are committed to providing a conducive environment for all of you to access the vast potential of Hong Kong, the Mainland market and beyond. We value your contributions to our economy and society, and we look forward to strengthening our partnerships with you in the future. Thank you very much for your support for the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit. I hope you enjoy your stay in Hong Kong and have fruitful exchanges with your peers and partners in the days to come.