peter pang : hong kong ’ s retail bond issues opening remarks by mr peter pang, deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the signing ceremony for the retail bond issue under hkmc ’ s retail bond issuance programme, hong kong, 18 july 2005. * * * good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the hong kong mortgage corporation, i welcome you all to this signing ceremony for the retail bond to be offered to the public tomorrow. i am pleased to note that since the introduction of the current offering mechanism through placing banks in october 2001, hkmc retail bonds have been warmly welcomed by retail investors. so far, we have issued seven retail bonds for a total amount of hk $ 10. 4 billion. the success of the mortgage corporation ’ s debt issues has been attributed to its high credit ratings ( which are the same as those of the hong kong sar government ) and to the wide range of notes, which can meet the different investment needs of retail investors. the upcoming issue has both hong kong dollar and us dollar denominated notes. this is the first time that the hkmc issues us dollar notes. apart from diversifying its funding sources, the hkmc ’ s issuance of usd retail bonds also serves to provide an additional investment channel for retail investors in hong kong. the minimum subscription amount for our usd bonds is only us $ 5, 000, setting a reasonable threshold to make our debt accessible to a large segment of retail investors. this move by the hkmc to issue usd denominated bonds fits very well into the efforts by the hong kong monetary authority to promote the development of a safe and efficient financial infrastructure for hong kong, based on a multi - currency, multi - dimensional platform. in hong kong ’ s banking system, we have around hk $ 2 trillion in hk dollar deposits. our banks also have the equivalent of over hk $ 1. 8 trillion in foreign currency deposits. about 70 % or us $ 164 billion are us dollar deposits. the loan - to - deposit ratio for hong kong dollar deposits is 87 % ; the equivalent for us dollar is only around 26 %. we reckon that a significant portion of the sizable us dollar deposits is held by retail investors and some would wish to diversify and look for investment products to increase their return. one could of course look for opportunities overseas but, as an international financial centre, hong kong should also try to provide more such investment products locally. in the past there have been very few local issues of us

economy, as our " fintech 2025 " strategy eloquently puts it. project mbridge, our flagship wholesale cbdc project, is a joint collaboration among the bis innovation hub, the digital currency institute of the people's bank of china, the 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches bank of thailand and the central bank of the uae. we have been experimenting on a blockchain platform to settle multi - currency cross - border payments in cbdc, with the goal of addressing the well - known shortcomings of the correspondent banking system. the hkma has also been studying the prospect of issuing a retail cbdc in hong kong under project e - hkd. earlier this year, we kick - started the e - hkd pilot programme, which is a close collaboration with industry participants to test the potential use cases of an e - hkd. project sela and collaboration as the way forward in cbdc research now, i did not mention the pilot programme just as a spoiler to the later session of the launch event. i mentioned it to underline one key aspect of our cbdc research efforts : collaboration. the complicated nature of cbdcs makes them a challenging and complex field to navigate. this complexity underscores the importance of cooperation, not only with industry participants, but also with other fellow central banks. by sharing knowledge, resources, and expertise, we can ensure that the development and implementation of cbdcs are done in a way that mitigates any potential risks and benefits all, across jurisdictions. project sela is a testament to the enduring power of collaboration. by pooling the policy, legal and technical knowledge of the hkma, the bank of israel, the bis innovation hub and of our industry partners, sela successfully experimented with a novel cbdc architecture that can effectively foster competition and innovation in the provision of cbdc services. such a remarkable outcome, in such a short time, would have not been possible if each party worked alone. while the hkma has not yet made a decision on whether and when to introduce an ehkd, the findings from project sela will inform our on - going exploration. and i am confident that these insights will also contribute to the ongoing global discourse surrounding cbdcs. let me thank you all once again for being here, and thank you israel for your warm hospitality. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches