financing platform has played an important role in mainland's economic development and a continued and expanded use should be made going forward. in addition to the well developed platform for mainland enterprises to list on the hong kong's stock exchange, consideration could be given to facilitate smes to raise funds through bond issuance with credit enhancement in hong kong. at the same time, hong kong can serve as a platform for more investment outflows from the mainland, which would improve investment choices for mainland investors. for instance, financial instruments issued in hong kong could be allowed to be listed on the mainland, or mainland investors could be allowed to use their own foreign currency deposits to invest overseas through hong kong. second, hong kong can be a testing ground for the international use of the renminbi, a process closely related to mainland's capital account liberalisation. the renminbi business scheme in hong kong, which is supported by a clearing arrangement provided by the people's bank of china, has developed steadily since its launch in early 2004. it has now extended from personal banking to bonds issuance by mainland financial institutions. renminbi deposits in the hong kong banking system have also risen significantly over the last few years. further expansion of renminbi business into trade settlement and related financial services would bring convenience for traders and enterprises on both sides. more importantly, it will help to lay the ground work for the use of renminbi for trade related activities through a formal and supervised channel. the demand for a wider use of renminbi outside the mainland is likely to increase further as the mainland economy grows. in addition, the recent global financial turmoil has highlighted the need for a more diversified international monetary system, including more currency choices for international transactions. in time renminbi could be one of the obvious choices for many countries. in this process, using the well - established institutional framework of renminbi business in hong kong for pilot schemes will enable better monitoring and assessment of the flows, and mitigate the potential risks particularly on the domestic monetary policy management. one important pre - requisite for designing appropriate policies to facilitate the mainland's capital account opening is a good understanding of the economy and financial system. here at the hkma, we have closely monitored, as well as undertaken in - depth analytical work on the mainland economic, monetary and financial developments. our half - yearly financial stability report has a section devoted to the mainland economy, and research reports on the mainland are published as working papers available on

the ndrc signed an mou to better support mainland cross - border financing activities and promote the development of hong kong's bond market. these are encouraging developments that reaffirm the 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches authorities'continued support for mainland issuers to tap the international market for cross - border financing. clearly hong kong and many of you here are well positioned to seize the flows that come as the market turns. speaking of cross - border opportunities, hong kong is an important gateway for international investments in the onshore bond market. bond connect, for example, accounted for two - thirds of foreign investors'total turnover in the onshore china interbank bond market in 2023. meanwhile, we are making good progress in helping bond holders to better manage their risks and liquidity. the swap connect launched last year complements the bond connect by facilitating global investors'management of interest rate risks arising from their allocation to mainland bonds. the hkma is also in discussion with mainland authorities in enhancing cross - border connectivity in the repo market. in january this year, the hkma and the people's bank of china jointly announced the further opening up of the onshore repo market to all foreign institutional investors that already have access to the onshore bond market, including bond connect investors. the market consultation ended last month and we will support the pboc's work in taking forward this important initiative. a month ago the hkma started accepting certain onshore rmb bonds as eligible collateral for our rmb liquidity facility. these new measures will facilitate international investors'diverse use of their mainland bond holdings and provide them with more liquidity management tools, thereby enhancing the depth and breadth of their participation in the mainland bond market. the second development, or more accurately, longer term trend, is the continued shift towards green and sustainable finance. indeed the icma report has covered this in length, and for good reasons. asia's transition to a sustainable development is critical to the global climate agenda given the region's share of global carbon emission. yet the transition is challenging given that many asian economies lack the requisite financial resources. encouragingly, the asia bond market is shaping up to meet this challenge. last year, more than 20 % of the region's international bond issuances were in green and sustainable format, considerably higher than the global average of around 10 %. hong kong is playing its part. in recent years, over one - third of asia '