Hong Kong Financial Secretary highlights strategic shift at 10th Shanghai-Hong Kong finance meeting
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary outlined a strategic shift from scale to function and from a financial city to a finance-empowered city at the 10th Shanghai-Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Working Meeting in Shanghai on 30 October 2026, highlighting plans to deepen connectivity, boost offshore renmi
The 10th Shanghai-Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Working Meeting was held in Shanghai on 30 October 2026, with Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury delivering opening remarks. The secretary noted the milestone nature of the 10th meeting and stressed the close economic and financial ties between the two cities, both of which are key financial centres for China.
Hong Kong’s financial market has shown resilience despite a complex global economic environment, the secretary said. In the latest Global Financial Centre Index, Hong Kong ranked third globally and first in the Asia-Pacific region. It has also become the world’s largest cross-border wealth management centre, with assets under management of about US$2.9 trillion, similar to Switzerland’s, but with an expected average annual growth rate of about 9 per cent until 2030, compared with 6 per cent for Switzerland.
The secretary announced two strategic shifts for Hong Kong’s financial sector under the city’s first five-year plan, released last month. The first shift is from “scale pursuit” to “function enhancement”, aiming to strengthen financial services for the real economy. The second is from a “financial city” to a “finance-empowered city”, with a “finance plus” strategy to lead technology, green, and northern development.
Key measures include deepening connectivity mechanisms and enriching offshore renminbi investment products to reinforce Hong Kong’s role as the largest offshore renminbi hub; developing Hong Kong into an international gold trading centre and expanding commodity trading; promoting green and sustainable finance and fintech integration; and optimising tax concessions for family offices and asset management to attract global capital.
The meeting focused on three core topics: strengthening financial market cooperation and cross-border capital flow; coordinating cross-border offshore financial services to support enterprises going global; and building a joint financial product and service system with standard alignment and talent training. The secretary expressed hope that the discussions would serve the real economy and write a new chapter for Shanghai-Hong Kong financial cooperation.