, which should rank among the highest in the world. 6. we do spend a lot of our time monitoring risks and studying ways to manage them. but on the other hand, we are also acutely aware of the opportunities provided by the opening - up of mainland china ’ s financial sector, and we have been making efforts to enhance our role as a bridge between mainland china and the international markets. this is done mostly in collaboration with other financial centres and overseas authorities, including the banque de france. back in 2014, the hkma and banque de france signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation between the two financial centres. to me, this collaboration can go beyond china opportunities to cover other new market developments, including fintech and green finance. 7. let me start with the opportunities in mainland china. as you are aware, last year marked the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening - up of mainland china. throughout these years, hong kong remains as the gateway to mainland china. today, as mainland china continues to open up its capital markets, we serve as a major platform for international investors to access the world ’ s second largest stock market and third largest bond market. take bond connect as an example. it provides a convenient channel for international investors to access the mainland ’ s bond market using international market practices such 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches as the nominee holding structure. similarly, stock connect provides access channel for international investors to invest in the mainland ’ s stock markets by engaging brokers and custodians in hong kong through existing structure. 8. with the smooth inclusion of a - shares into msci emerging markets index last year, more global indices are planning to add rmb products into their constituent assets. for example, rmb bonds will be included in the bloomberg - barclays global aggregate index starting this april and ftse ’ s global equity index series will also include a - shares from this june. the inclusion of rmb assets into global indices has driven up the demand for these assets and a good part of the investment is done through hong kong. at the same time, we are also working closely with the mainland to expand and enhance these connect schemes, including expanding the product scope to cover derivative products in the case of bond connect and etf in the case of stock connects. 9. talking about china opportunities, one key development is the guangdong - hong kongmacao bay area ( the greater bay area, or gba ). the gba combines mainland

eddie yue : digital trade and finance in hong kong - reasserting global leadership keynote speech by mr eddie yue, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the international chamber of commerce - hong kong ( icchk ) digital trade forum " digital trade and finance in hong kong : reasserting global leadership ", hong kong, 30 november 2023. * * * good afternoon everyone. thank you for inviting me to speak today. it is a great pleasure to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the icchk with the very distinguished audience here today, and the hkma is very pleased to support today's event. at last year's icchk event, i shared our thoughts on how connecting digital islands can contribute to a more digitally integrated trade finance system, thereby addressing the pain points in trade finance and improving smes'access to financing. today, i would like to share our thoughts on a more holistic approach to digitising trade and finance in hong kong and how we can reaffirm our global leadership through accelerated digitalisation. the issue is particularly relevant to hong kong, where the trade industry and the financial services sector account for about 18 % and 21 % of the city's gdp respectively. by digitising trade and finance, we are essentially adding fuel to these two major growth engines and taking our city's economic development to the next level. in recent years, we have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the way business and trade are conducted. the emergence of novel technologies and their growing adoption have revolutionised industries, reshaped customer behaviour, and redefined the nature of commerce. as we stand on the edge of a new digital era, we need to ensure that hong kong maintains its competitiveness on the global stage, and it is critical that we embrace and accelerate the progress of digitalisation in trade and finance. the benefits of digitalisation are clear – enhanced efficiency, reduced human error, savings in costs, speed to market, and full traceability. digitalisation offers a multitude of opportunities to enhance hong kong's status in international trade and finance. to capitalise on these opportunities, we have identified five key elements in digitising trade and finance. just as the five elements in chinese culture or " – ( gold ) ( wood ) ( water ) ( fire ) ( earth ) ", these elements tend to strengthen, support and reinforce one another throughout our digitalisation journey. the first key element that comes into play is the government. the digitalisation of