Hong Kong remains global finance nexus amid shifts, John Lee says
Chief Executive John Lee told the 5th Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit that Hong Kong stays the nexus for global finance despite geopolitical shifts, AI and blockchain. He cited the First Five-Year Plan, record IPO volumes and wealth management assets. Eddie Yue called for re-examining ma
Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu told the 5th Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit on Tuesday that, amid profound global shifts, Hong Kong remains the nexus for the world's financial leadership. This year's theme, “Rethinking the Playbook”, reflected the reality that long-held market assumptions are being tested and that strategies which once delivered results no longer guarantee success, Lee said.
He pointed to geopolitical crosscurrents, blockchain and tokenization rebuilding the core infrastructure of finance, and artificial intelligence reshaping productivity, labour markets and competition across every sector and economy. Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man added that the world has faced an increase in military conflicts, changes in trade policy, supply chain restructuring, rising public debt, active efforts to suppress inflation, and a constantly changing technological environment including AI, yet the global financial system has remained sound.
Yue said it was time to re-examine whether the conventions that were well known and followed in the past are still effective. He stressed the need to pay closer attention to potential threats and what is lacking in the market, as well as how to respond to risks and attacks that have accumulated in the market, to better avoid or reduce harm, protect investors and create value.
Lee highlighted that Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan gives market certainty, setting out directions to strengthen the city's status as an international financial hub, a global offshore yuan business hub, an international asset and wealth management centre, and an international risk management centre. He said Hong Kong's value proposition under “one country, two systems” remains intact, citing the vitality of the common law system, the free flow of people, goods, capital and ideas, a free market with no tariffs, a simple and low tax regime, world-class professional services and connectivity to the Chinese mainland and the world.
Lee noted Hong Kong topped last year's global initial public offering rankings, raised US$50 billion in IPOs in the first nine months of 2026, and remains the leading offshore yuan hub, processing about 75 per cent of global offshore yuan payments, with deposits of about 1.3 trillion yuan at the end of July. He added that Hong Kong became the world's largest cross-boundary wealth management centre for the first time in May, with assets under management surging 20 per cent year-on-year last year to a record US$270 billion.
Lee flagged new frontiers: gold trading, with the Gold Central Clearing and Settlement System launching in the first quarter of next year; fintech, home to over 1,400 companies including eight digital banks and 12 licensed virtual-asset trading platforms; and sustainable finance, where Hong Kong issued the world's largest digital bond. He also invited investors to partner in developing the Northern Metropolis, which occupies one-third of Hong Kong's land area and sits next to Shenzhen, into an innovation, technology and talent hub.
He Lifeng, vice premier of the State Council, outlined directions including fully leveraging the advantages of “one country, two systems” to maintain a free and open economic environment, further strengthening Hong Kong's role as an international financial centre, and using finance more effectively to support broader economic and social development, including the Northern Metropolis and emerging industries. He reaffirmed that the Central Government will continue to provide strong policy support and institutional safeguards to help Hong Kong maintain long-term prosperity and stability while contributing more fully to national development.