mastercard payment cards to buy groceries and medicines among other thing, even if the internet is down. this has required close collaboration between several actors to make a number of necessary adjustments to systems and rules related to the use of payment cards. the contingency measure is expected to be fully rolled out to the majority of grocery stores and pharmacies by early 2025. but the danish payments council is aware that the work on the card payment contingency measure does not end here. the next step for the members of the danish payments council will be to ensure that the contingency measure is tested regularly to ensure that it is ro - bust and works effectively in the event of a crisis. in four to five months we will join the pan - european payments infrastructure, target services. this means, among other things, joining forces with the euro countries in a common front against cyber threats. this is a huge investment for both you in the sector and for danmarks na - tionalbank, and the collaboration has been very successful. the other nordic central banks also see target services as a future possibility. this means we can look forward to strong and increased nordic and european collaboration on a common payments infrastructure with increased joint innovation in mind. the tips cross - currency project is one such example. here, danmarks nationalbank is working with the ecb and sveriges riksbank to enable instant cross - currency payments on the common tips platform. the project will allow banks to develop new and improved solutions for settling cross - border payments. i therefore encourage the banks to actively participate in the project. together, we must achieve a solution that offers easy and efficient settlement of these payments while meeting the eu requirements that banks face. 4 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches all with the aim of ensuring that danish citizens continue to have access to secure and efficient payments in the future. state of the financial sector let me say a few words about the state of the financial sector. you still have high profits at the banks. higher interest rates in 2022 and 2023 have contributed to a significant increase in net interest income, while you have experienced very few losses on your customers. the limited losses are largely due to the fact that the soft landing in the economy has become a reality. for businesses, the financial statements generally reveal a moderate increase in profits. for the vast majority of home - owners, their economic situation has also proved robust during the period of high inflation and rising interest rates. however, that

and there are still many challenges facing us. the hkma has therefore embarked on a review of our debt market development with a view to identifying measures which can be adopted to help market development. on the demand side, everybody knows that the mainland of china is enjoying a rapid economic growth and business opportunities are mushrooming. the recent announcement by the mainland authorities of measures to liberalise portfolio investment outflows has marked the emergence of such kind of opportunity for hong kong. under these new rules, each chinese citizen is allowed, among other things, to invest in fixed income securities overseas within certain limits. we expect that this will help boost the demand for fixed income securities although we do not know exactly how much such investment outflows will be approved by the mainland authorities in the initial years. given our experience and achievements in financial services and the fact that we are the only international financial centre of china, i am sure that hong kong is well positioned to grasp the opportunity. apart from the initiatives and developments i just mentioned, i believe that it would be useful to highlight a few fundamental factors which make hong kong an ideal place for the bond market. the first is our free capital mobility. the absence of capital controls means that there are no restrictions on foreign enterprises using our capital markets to raise funds. foreign investors can also freely invest in our markets and easily remit the proceeds back home. secondly, our well - developed financial markets, including derivative markets, would allow issuers and investors to manage any interest rate risk or exchange rate risk effectively. thirdly, hong kong has a critical mass of financial institutions which stand ready to support issuers to tap the capital markets. hong kong is also an asset management centre thus providing a large investor base for debt instruments. last but not least, the absence of capital gains tax and interest withholding tax would also favour bond market development. our exceptional geographical, cultural and language advantages also make hong kong an ideal place to link up the mainland of china with the rest of world. on our part, the hkma will continue to play a leading role in enhancing the development of the debt market in hong kong, by removing market frictions and unnecessary restrictions, and by keeping up with the best practices adopted in other well - developed markets. lastly, i would like to thank euromoney again for inviting me to speak. i look forward to the continued cooperation with our partners on the healthy development of the bond market in this region. thank you.