% – and the continued inflow of funds last year, despite the market - wide correction affecting the asset and wealth management industry. the second thing i can say with confidence is that three long - term trends will be here to stay. these are the opening - up of the mainland and the move towards sustainability and digitalisation. the mainland is entering a period of more moderate growth, with the focus shifting from quantity to quality. the transition may at times be a bit bumpy, affecting market sentiment. but let's not lose sight of the long - term growth drivers, including for example china's industries'moving up the value chain, a growing middle 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches class, urbanisation, technological innovation, and the climate action driven by the 30 / 60 carbon neutrality targets. these all present opportunities to long - term investors. moving onto sustainability – for those of us living in hong kong, you may recall the severe weather events that occurred last september, which brought the city to a standstill. 2023 was also a significant year from a global climate perspective – being the warmest year on record. the transition to a greener future is a shared responsibility. it is not just about tackling a global issue that affects the entire population, but also about protecting our own people right here at home. as asia's sustainable finance hub, hong kong is in a unique position to support the region's green transition. finally, digitalisation holds great promises, of both immense productivity gains but also fundamental disruption to the way we live and work. artificial intelligence ( ai ) is the most recent example. goldman sachs estimates that ai could substitute up to onefourth of current work, and two - thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of ai automation. and it is not just ai – automation, big data, tokenisation, etc., all have the potential to reshape finance and our work as central banks and financial regulators. let me now turn to how the hong kong monetary authority ( hkma ) positions the hong kong platform to capture the opportunities from these three trends. first, on mainland opportunities, as we all know, hong kong is the dominant gateway between mainland china and the rest of the world, and has been a reliable testing ground for many of the mainland's financial opening - up initiatives. our connect schemes have consistently served as the preferred channels for foreign investors investing in the onshore financial markets. two - thirds of foreign

events which highlighted the risks associated with retail investment in virtual assets. the hong kong government and financial regulators are working towards establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework that covers virtual asset service providers, including stablecoin issuers. stablecoins is another important element of the virtual asset world – and we recognise their potential benefits in improving efficiency. at the same time, we are also mindful of the related monetary and financial stability risks. an appropriate regulatory environment will help manage these risks properly. we intend to introduce a new piece of legislation to implement a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers and are currently gathering views on the proposal. related to virtual assets is the tokenisation of traditional financial assets. we launched the world's first tokenised government green bond last year and recently completed a second offering in four major currencies totalling hk $ 6 billion, making it the world's first multi - currency digital green bond. the issuance size and wider investor participation, particularly in the second issuance, show that the technology is really moving beyond concept testing into actual production. meanwhile, we are also looking at other use cases such as tokenised deposits. of course market - wide adoption will take time, but we are making progress. looking ahead, we are committed to promoting the effective implementation of the financial stability board ( fsb )'s recommendations on a global regulatory framework for crypto - asset activities. as co - chair of the fsb regional consultative group for asia, i will do my best so that our region actively contributes to these efforts. finally, i would like to highlight a few initiatives related to the financial sector that were unveiled in the budget speech yesterday. these initiatives should be welcome news to the market as they should help enhance hong kong's financial competitiveness. first, the government will set up a task force to further develop the asset and wealth management industry. by working closely with industry stakeholders, we hope to gain a better understanding of the industry's needs, identify opportunities, address challenges and create a supportive ecosystem. second, to attract global family offices and asset owners to set up presence in hong kong, the government will further enhance the preferential tax regimes for related funds, single family offices and carried interest. third, the new capital investment entrant scheme will launch soon and help strengthen our advantages in developing the asset and wealth management industry and related professional services sectors. fourth, the government will increase the government debt ceiling to hk $ 500 billion to cover sustainable finance and infrastructure