(Opportunities in Hong Kong) Funds continue to pour in, and the scale of Hong Kong’s financial management market and industry confidence are rising.

China News Service, Hong Kong, November 7 (Reporter Dai Xiaolu) The "Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Annual Report 2026" recently released by the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA) and KPMG China shows that Hong Kong's private wealth management performance has steadily increased, funds have continued to pour in, and industry confidence has continued to increase. More than 90% of the institutions surveyed are optimistic about Hong Kong's development in the next five years. The industry generally believes that with the deepening of interconnection, the acceleration of financial technology and the implementation of policy optimization, Hong Kong's status as the world's largest cross-border wealth management center will be further consolidated.

The above-mentioned survey was carried out from June to August this year. The report pointed out that 77% of the institutions surveyed said that customers' demand for opening new accounts and allocating assets in Hong Kong has increased, higher than last year's 59%, while no institution said that related demand has decreased. Lu Caiyun, chairman of the administrative committee of the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association, said that in the face of external geopolitical uncertainty, investors trust Hong Kong’s mature and stable financial management platform. She believes that in order to maintain its leading edge, Hong Kong must proactively seek change, seize the opportunities of Asia's wealth growth, cross-border connectivity and financial technology, and continue to strengthen its function as a global wealth management hub.

How to seize the dividends of the Chinese mainland market has been a topic of intense discussion in the industry recently. The report shows that 79% of the institutions surveyed expect the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area initiatives, including cross-border wealth management links, to be "critical" or "of certain importance" to their Hong Kong offshore business in the next five years. The market generally expects that the number of compliant investment targets will continue to increase and Hong Kong’s value as a gateway connecting the mainland and international capital markets will be strengthened.

Paul Chan, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, introduced at the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association Summit held on the 5th that the total value of Hong Kong's asset and wealth management business will increase by 20% year-on-year to more than HK$42 trillion in 2025, becoming the world's largest cross-border wealth management center; Hong Kong's "New Capital Investor Entry Program" has received about 4,300 applications so far, and is expected to bring about HK$150 billion in investment.

When analyzing the core competitiveness of Hong Kong's financial management industry, Huang Tianyou, Chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, pointed out that more than half of Hong Kong's private wealth management scale comes from the mainland. Hong Kong can rely on its location advantages to closely connect with major mainland regions, superimpose Hong Kong's robust market infrastructure, a regulatory framework that balances innovation and compliance, and combine technology, capital and connectivity, as well as the credibility of the market, institutions and regulatory systems to form a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate.

When talking about the global asset allocation pattern, Yu Weiman, President of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said that global investors pursue diversification of regions and asset classes. International investors use Hong Kong to deploy Chinese assets, and mainland capital also invests in overseas markets through Hong Kong. Looking to the future, Hong Kong's RMB capital market has great room for expansion and is expected to cultivate more liquid RMB stocks, larger RMB bonds, and supporting hedging tools such as futures and swaps.

Yu Weiman predicts that the development momentum of Hong Kong's fund market, gold and commodity markets is expected to steadily improve, and Hong Kong will become a more mature financial platform that keeps up with global trends, helping to open up capital flows between Asia and the world. (over)