eddie yue : keynote speech - international conference on central bank digital currencies and payment systems keynote speech by mr eddie yue, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the international conference on central bank digital currencies and payment systems, hong kong, 11 april 2024. * * * kar yan [ tam, dean and chair professor, school of business and management, hkust ], dong [ he, deputy director, monetary and capital markets department, imf ], friends and distinguished guests, good morning. introduction welcome to today's conference and a very warm welcome to those who have joined us from overseas. i would like to spend the next 15 minutes to share my thoughts on central bank digital currencies, or cbdcs, and what it means for the future of money and payment systems. throughout history, the evolution of money and its institutional foundations have closely followed the advancements in technology. today, we are witnessing a significant shift in how we view and use money in our increasingly digital world. the way we make payments is changing, with a decline in cash transactions and a growing trend towards digital payments for goods and services. the developments in the online space are even more interesting, with an explosion of new asset classes and transaction protocols. in response, some 130 central banks have been conducting research on cbdcs as an advanced representation of central bank money for the digital economy. the hkma is an early mover in this respect, having started cbdc explorations since 2017 with project lionrock, which has since evolved into project mbridge, one of the more advanced explorations of a multi - cbdc platform globally. digital money in the tokenisation era a key technique that has underpinned and enabled this continued innovation is tokenisation, a process of transforming the rights to an asset into a digital token, represented on say a blockchain. this technique has the potential to enable the interweaving of money and assets, whether in the physical or digital world. this could in turn lead to a major shift in the way we perceive and interact with money and assets. the hkma is well aware of how emerging technologies and innovations like tokenisation can potentially enhance the efficiency, transparency, and security of the transactions for financial assets. we have, for example, assisted the government in issuing two series of tokenised green bonds in the past two years. 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches we have also been working closely with the industry to

mr. carse looks at the importance of the euro for hong kong speech by the deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, mr. david carse, at a seminar on the euro, held in hong kong on 9 / 11 / 98. introduction ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to be here this morning to speak at this seminar on the euro organized by the vocational training council in conjunction with the british consulate - general and the hong kong institute of bankers. with the introduction of the euro less than two months away, this is obviously a good time to hold such a seminar. it is also fitting to hold it in hong kong where our fixed exchange rate system gives us a natural sympathy for its logical extension, the single currency. we are fortunate to have a number of experts on the euro here today to give us the benefit of their views, including my former colleague from the bank of england, john townend. my role in the seminar is to say a few words on the importance of the euro for hong kong. i will also take the opportunity to brief you on some of the regulatory steps which we have been taking to prepare for the euro. the introduction of the euro is a truly momentous change in the global economic and financial landscape. it is not simply a change of currency for the participating countries, though that in itself is a major event. rather, it is a crucial step in the economic and monetary integration of the european union ( “ eu ” ) countries and the creation of the single market. this change will involve 300 million consumers, 16 % of world gdp and 29 % of world trade. this demonstrates why the euro is an important event for hong kong. as the uk chancellor of the exchequer recently made clear, we are now living in a global economy, in which each economy can directly affect the prospects of every other. where the economy concerned is the size of the eu, its potential to affect other economies - for good or bad - is without question. this is reinforced by the existing trade and financial links between hong kong and the eu countries : • the eu ranks 3rd among hong kong ’ s trading partners in the world ; • in the first eight months of this year, the eu accounted for hk $ 245 billion or 13. 2 % of hong kong ’ s total trade - much of this represents entrepot trade between the eu and mainland china ; • the eu is the largest external investor in hong kong, accounting for over hk $ 200 billion or 34 %