resilience and, importantly, confidence, that our market players needed in those critical moments. 18. this is certainly the case post lehman ’ s collapse, as hong kong ’ s companies and individuals liquidated overseas assets and repatriated hk $ 220 billion back into hong kong to tide themselves over the liquidity and credit squeeze. looking forward 19. it is no exaggeration to say that cls is now one of the most important pieces of infrastructure supporting the global financial market. the creation of the cls bank is also a shining example that demonstrates the power of private sector - public sector collaboration. the hkma is proud to be part of that success story. cls reports both sides of an fx transaction. to adjust the average daily value data to equate to the same reporting convention used by the bank for international settlements, the gross values should be divided by two. bis triennial central bank survey, fx turnover in april 2013. bis central bankers ’ speeches 20. so, what ’ s next? i expect markets to keep changing, and they will only change faster in the coming years. 21. as technology advances, and asia providing the engine for global growth in the medium term, i see plenty of opportunities for cls to put its strategic focus in the region. the hkma welcomes the cls ’ efforts to put more new currencies and members into its orbit. 22. i look forward to seeing this happen sooner rather than later, and welcome opportunities for cooperation and knowledge sharing between us. this is all because of what i said earlier – that we shared a common vision, and a more widely participated system should mean even less settlement risks for market players. 23. i look forward to celebrating our silver anniversary in 2029. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

% – 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