industry. we managed to attract world renowned policymakers and financial leaders to come and share their views with our members through our speakers series. through these regular interactions, we hope we can help expand the perspectives of our future leaders on global and interdisciplinary issues, thereby enhancing the soft power of hong kong in the process. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches secondly, the hong kong institute for monetary and financial research ( hkimr ), which is now under the aof, has continued to undertake research projects that are both in - depth and highly relevant to the policy deliberations among the financial industry and policymakers in hong kong. over the past five years, the hkimr has further solidified its position as a credible and relevant institute by strengthening its outreach to regional and international research communities, and delivering valuable and impactful content through its monetary and applied research programmes. thirdly, we are particularly excited to launch the aof's financial leaders programme, which has provided a comprehensive platform for collaborative learning opportunities to an annual cohort of financial talents. since its launch in 2022, two cohorts of a total of 42 senior executives have graduated from the programme, and we will shortly witness the graduation of the 3rd cohort of future financial leaders, and i hope that they will leave the programme feeling better equipped to advance in their career journeys. looking ahead, we hope our members will continue to support and work with us in delivering our strategic priorities and promoting the hong kong story via the aof platform. i firmly believe that harnessing the network power among market participants, academia, and regulators is crucial to hong kong's future success as an ifc. in this regard, i hope you find that the aof network to be truly unique and useful to your institutions, and i encourage you all to continue to participate in our activities more regularly. before i conclude, i would like to express our sincere gratitude to the board of directors, our fellows, and all of the aof members present today for their invaluable support and contributions to the five - year journey of the academy. thank you. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

and the industrial and commercial bank of china were successfully listed in hong kong, raising a total share capital of us $ 36 billion. during this period, the stock markets in the mainland witnessed a relatively difficult time. the listing of domestic enterprises was subject to more restrictions. and at this critical moment, hong kong fulfilled this historical mission for our nation by playing an irreplaceable role in and making significant contribution to the reform of the banking system in china. we can imagine that, should the listing of the bank of china, the china construction bank and the industrial and commercial bank of china be delayed, no one knows to what extent would the progress of the reform of china ’ s banking system be affected with the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008. in july this year, the agricultural bank of china was also successfully listed in shanghai and hong kong simultaneously. although the market sentiment had turned cautious, the agricultural bank successfully raised us $ 12 billion in hong kong. the total proceeds raised from the offering of its a and h shares exceeded those of the industrial and commercial bank of china, making it the world ’ s largest ipo. in the past 20 years, the hong kong stock market has raised over us $ 300 billion for enterprises on the mainland. the reform and modernisation of the financial system in china is an important cornerstone for the continuous, rapid and stable economic development of our nation. the reform of the financial system involves the gradual relaxation of restrictions on capital accounts, the gradual move towards free convertibility of rmb and the adoption of the same practices by the mainland and international capital markets. however, moving too fast or moving in the wrong direction in the course of reform may bring high risk and great damage to china. therefore, china has to implement the reform gradually and take one step at a time. in the future reform of the financial system of china, hong kong will shoulder important missions in a number of aspects. first, hong kong banks that establish branches in the mainland and invest in the financial institutions in the mainland will not only bring in capital but also transfer the advanced management skills and experience of hong kong, which are conducive to enhancing the awareness and standard of governance and risk management of banks in china. in addition, hong kong will contribute to the improvement of the regulatory standard of mainland financial institutions through regulatory co - operation, technological exchanges and staff visits between the regulatory bodies in hong kong and on the mainland. secondly, with the expansion and diversification of international trade