eddie yue : remarks at media standup remarks by mr eddie yue, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at media standup, hong kong, 2 october 2019. * * * ladies and gentlemen, 1. today is my first working day as the chief executive of the hkma. apart from the transition to a new position, i will also be faced with a challenging external and domestic environment. this includes the weakening of global economic momentum, uncertainties over the chinaus trade conflict and brexit, unpredictable monetary policy stance across central banks especially in the us, and the social events in hong kong in recent months. all these have presented huge challenges and uncertainties for the hong kong economy. 2. our key priority in the next few years is to maintain hong kong ’ s monetary and financial stability. 3. and, the foundation for this stability is the linked exchange rate system ( “ the link ” ), which has helped hong kong weather different financial storms since 1983. i ’ ve been involved in the operation of the link throughout my career in the hkma and i have also gone through two financial crises. i firmly believe that the link is the most appropriate monetary system for hong kong. we see no need and have no intention of changing this well - established system. 4. our banking system is also robust and sound. i ’ m confident that hong kong ’ s financial system is well positioned to cope with market volatilities. 5. we will also reinforce hong kong ’ s role as a premier international financial centre. one key driver is the rapid development of fintech. while the hkma has done a great deal in the past few years in promoting fintech, there is still room to further apply new technology in finance in the coming years. this includes, for example, fostering a better ecosystem for regulatory technology ( or regtech ) and supervisory technology ( or suptech ). we are also aware that any new risks associated with the increasing use of technology have to be managed. these include for example cyber and data security. we will work with the industry to address these risks. 6. we are also committed to promoting market development opportunities, especially in strengthening the role of hong kong as the gateway to the mainland ’ s capital markets, in the greater bay area development, and also in green finance. 7. these are rough times. but my colleagues and i will continue to discharge our duties in a professional manner and do our best to serve the people of hong

s currency, which have amounted cumulatively to some 75 % over the period since the establishment of our peg in 1983. moreover, any reasons for expecting a devaluation of the renminbi to have a knock - on effect on the hong kong dollar because of competitiveness considerations are weaker now than before, because hong kong has evolved much more as a complementary economy to the mainland of china than as a competitor. as a final example i might mention the various misperceptions which people have had more generally about the relationship between hong kong and the mainland of china, which have perhaps caused some volatility in financial market sentiment towards hong kong. i say “ have ” advisedly, rather than “ do ”, because, now that we are in our third year of “ one country, two systems ”, i am pleased to find that the number of foreigners that i encounter who still seriously misunderstand our system has dwindled away. i would not anyway criticise those who did, or still do, have mistaken understandings of hong kong ’ s constitutional position. after all, hong kong is a small territory, a third of the way round the globe from here, and it would be conceited to assume that everybody should know the intimate details of our situation. anyway, for the avoidance of doubt, let me tell you that hong kong enjoys complete constitutional autonomy in its monetary and financial policies. and i can assure you that this autonomy has been fully respected by the mainland authorities. they are, indeed, as anxious as i am to preserve a stable and prosperous financial environment in hong kong. i hope you will forgive me for spending all this time talking about hong kong and its currency rather than about the euro. i have done so with a purpose, namely to illustrate the extent to which observers may often be mistaken about the direction of policy or the status of a currency. this is the source of much frustration to those of us trying to preserve financial and monetary stability. but we do have the consolation of knowing that there is a good chance that those who have perpetrated or adopted those misperceptions may have lost a lot of money as a result - if they were brave enough to put their money where their mouth was. perceptions of the euro i shall turn now to the euro. i would be deceiving you if i said that the euro, as seen from hong kong, enjoyed a particularly positive image at present. arguably one could expect no better for a currency which