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 '

allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources ” is an important life - skill in our diverse capacities as students, employees, consumers, savers and investors etc. in short, it is important for all responsible economic citizens to have. – so why not start now and start young? start young on financial fitness... it will be fun and worth it! if we plant the financial literacy seed now, we will watch as our children and students grow and bloom into responsible economic citizens. as parents, teachers and educators, we can do this by sharing and talking directly with our children about money matters, teaching them of the things to improve their money management skills, and be role models for them. to the winners of the 2014 be money wi $ e poster competition, i offer my heartfelt congratulations! you have done a magnificent job with these posters – your entries were chosen out of 550 entries submitted to us! i only pray that you will exercise some financial literacy with your cash prizes received today!! i would also like to acknowledge the principals and teachers for encouraging your students to participate in the competition and for incorporating financial literacy in your lessons. with the bis central bankers ’ speeches rewards that your individual schools will receive today i hope you are now ever more convinced that financial literacy is worth it and that it pay $ off! at this point i would like to acknowledge meilan meredith and her team at business system limited for the wonderful partnership in the poster competition and kindly donating prizes and trophies for our winners today. your partnership is greatly appreciated and we look forward to another opportunity to work with you in the future. and lastly, a big faamalo to the financial system development team for coordinating this year ’ s poster competition. i wish you all, a very blessed weekend. soifua ma ia manuia. bis central bankers ’ speeches