Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan: Continue to support the prudent advancement of RMB internationalization from three aspects.

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On December 28, Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government, published the Secretary’s Note "Marching Proudly into the New Year."

Paul Chan stated that we will continue to consolidate and enhance our strengths in financial markets, including boosting the competitiveness of the stock market and attracting more high-quality companies from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Global South to list in Hong Kong. At the same time, we will further diversify the landscape of Hong Kong’s financial market, accelerating the development of fixed income and currency markets, green finance, financial technology, and actively exploring new opportunities in areas such as bulk commodity trading and international gold trading.

In addition, the role of the Renminbi in global cross-border trade and investment is rising. As an offshore Renminbi business hub, Hong Kong will continue to facilitate the prudent advancement of Renminbi internationalization in three ways: improving offshore Renminbi liquidity, optimizing relevant financial infrastructure, and enriching investment products and risk management tools.

The full text is as follows:

Marching Proudly into the New Year

2025 is about to pass. Looking back over the past year, we have overcome many challenges. Although external developments remain uncertain, the local asset market continues to improve, capital inflow is sustained, the number of visitors to Hong Kong is rising, overall exports and fixed capital investment are performing well, local consumption is stabilizing, and Hong Kong’s economic growth is estimated to accelerate to 3.2%, slightly higher than predictions at the beginning of the year. Generally speaking, exports and investment have performed well, acting as the main drivers of the economy, with both the stock and property markets showing positive momentum in terms of price and volume, further strengthening market expectations.

In the asset market, Hong Kong stocks have performed brilliantly, rising for the second consecutive year. As of last week, the Hang Seng Index closed at 25,818 points, an increase of about 29% from last year’s end. In terms of growth rate, it will be the best-performing year since 2017, ranking among the top of the world’s major stock markets. This surge has been supported by active trading volume, with IPO fundraising more than doubling year-on-year, and the volume of trading and post-listing follow-up fundraising both increasing by about onefold. In the first eleven months of this year, the average daily turnover of Hong Kong stocks neared HK$260 billion. IPO fundraising topped the world, exceeding HK$270 billion as of mid-month, with four IPOs among the world’s top ten new listings this year. During the same period, post-listing fundraising for listed companies exceeded HK$510 billion. In asset and wealth management, there was a net inflow of more than US$41 billion into SFC-recognized funds registered in Hong Kong in the first nine months, an increase of more than 1.5 times over last year’s full-year figure.

The residential property market also remains active, with nearly 57,000 transactions in the first eleven months, up about 16% year-on-year, marking a consecutive annual increase. Home prices rose about 3%, rents increased 4%, and market sentiment on the housing market remains generally positive. As for the office market, the atmosphere has also improved, with transaction volume up 74% in the first ten months compared to the same period last year, and a slight decline in Grade A office vacancy rate.

In fact, Hong Kong’s economy has maintained growth momentum for the third consecutive year, driven by its three major engines. Overall exports performed impressively in the first three quarters, continuing to be the main contributor to growth. Fixed capital investment grew by 2.5% in the first three quarters, with third quarter growth expanding to 4.3%—the strongest quarter in four—with growth mainly driven by investment in machinery, electronic equipment, software, other equipment, and intellectual property products, likely owing to the widespread digitalization and automation among businesses. Private consumption also benefited from the asset market recovery and better overall market sentiment, rising 0.9% in the first three quarters, reversing the decline during the same period last year.

Looking to next year, Hong Kong’s economy is expected to maintain strong momentum. Generally, the market predicts that while global economic growth may slow, moderate expansion will continue, with Mainland China and Asia as the main growth engines, continuing to provide strong support for Hong Kong’s economy. In addition, expectations of rate cuts will benefit the business and investment environment.

More importantly, 2026 marks the beginning of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. We will proactively align with national development strategies, as finance, innovation & technology, and trade will be three key growth engines for Hong Kong.

First, comprehensively enhance the functions and substance of Hong Kong as an international financial center. We will continue to consolidate and strengthen our strengths in financial markets, including raising the competitiveness of the stock market and attracting more high-quality companies from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Global South to list in Hong Kong. We will also enrich Hong Kong’s financial market's diversity, accelerating development in fixed income and currency markets, green finance, financial technology, and actively exploring new opportunities in bulk commodity trading and international gold transactions.

In addition, the role of the Renminbi in global cross-border trade and investment is rising. As an offshore Renminbi business hub, Hong Kong will continue to facilitate the prudent advancement of Renminbi internationalization in three ways: improving offshore Renminbi liquidity, optimizing relevant financial infrastructure, and enriching investment products and risk management tools.

Second, accelerate building and expanding a world-class innovation and technology hub, especially through strong collaboration with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Globally, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and biomedical technology are the focus of investments; Hong Kong must fully leverage its own advantages and lead the wave of innovation and technology development.

Artificial intelligence will define the future core competitiveness of economies and reshape the global economic landscape. We are speeding up the development of artificial intelligence as a core industry in Hong Kong and empowering the transformation and upgrading of traditional sectors with an "AI+" strategy. We will promote its development in six key areas: computing power, algorithms, data, application development, funding support, and talent cultivation. In biomedicine, Hong Kong’s advantages are even more prominent. We will continue to attract more world-class pharmaceutical companies and medical research institutions to establish in Hong Kong and set up a "first-layer approval" mechanism for drug and medical device registration, consolidating Hong Kong’s status as a regional medical research and development center.

Third, enhance Hong Kong’s function as an international trade center. Facing new patterns in global trade and economic relations and the reshaping of industrial and supply chains, Hong Kong will continue to play the roles of “super connector” and “super value-adder.” China encourages Mainland enterprises to “go global,” deeply participating in global industrial division and cooperation. Hong Kong is actively building a transnational supply chain management and trade finance center to provide supply chain management, trade finance, treasury management, professional services, compliance consulting, and training for enterprises going abroad. Accordingly, we have established a "Mainland Enterprises Going Global Taskforce," gathering public and private sector resources to provide more comprehensive support for these "going global" enterprises.

Based on the solid foundation in 2025, we are about to enter a new year. New challenges are inevitable, but greater opportunities await. By better integrating with and serving the country’s development strategy, Hong Kong itself will continue to develop and create more high-quality job opportunities, so the achievements of economic growth and diversification will better benefit citizens. Meanwhile, we will continue to stay highly vigilant, proactively guarding against various "black swan" and "gray rhino" events amid the volatile external environment, balancing "security" and "development" as dual priorities, allowing Hong Kong’s society and economy to continue to move ahead smoothly in 2026.

December 28, 2025

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