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Daisy Wu

Hong Kong is broadening its equity markets, deepening its offshore yuan business and expanding further into gold trading under its first five-year plan for economic and social development, as the city seeks to defend its standing as Asia’s top financial centre and close the gap with London.
Unveiled on Wednesday by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu alongside his 2026 policy address, the blueprint outlines a package of financial plans to “consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre”.
The plan arrives with Hong Kong having retained its position as the world’s third-ranked financial centre and Asia’s top hub in the latest Global Financial Centres Index. With a score of 756, the city sat five points behind top-ranked New York, one point behind second-placed London and one point ahead of regional rival Singapore, highlighting the razor-thin margins in the battle for market dominance.
At the core of Hong Kong’s strategy is a revitalised equities market. The local exchange is set to study looser listing rules – including adjusted market-capitalisation thresholds – for technology companies of “strategic importance” while broadening secondary listing channels by adding the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange to its recognised-bourse list.

SCMP · How Hong Kong’s new 5-year plan courts global capital with an eye on market dominance

To deepen capital links with mainland China, Hong Kong’s stock exchange will also strengthen ties with the Qianhai Equity Exchange in Shenzhen to connect more mainland firms with global capital – part of what Lee called Hong Kong’s role as a “two-way” platform for listings flowing in and out of the mainland.
Hong Kong’s exchange ranked second worldwide for combined initial public offering and secondary-listing proceeds in the first half of 2026 – a total that jumped 84.3 per cent, year on year, to US$26.4 billion.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing CEO Bonnie Chan said in a statement on Wednesday that these priorities would “attract global long-term capital” and create a “vibrant marketplace that reinforces Hong Kong’s position as the pre-eminent global financial centre”.
Currency mechanisms form another major pillar of Hong Kong’s financial-development strategy, with plans to introduce a tendering facility for seven-day offshore yuan liquidity and to build out a local yuan yield curve through short-term debt instruments.




While Hong Kong remains the world’s largest offshore yuan centre – with average daily turnover surging 64.8 per cent from 2022 to US$315.1 billion in 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements – competitors are moving fast.
London’s cumulative yuan-clearing volume reached 48.15 trillion yuan (US$7.18 trillion) last year, with daily average clearing volume jumping 55.33 per cent to 191.09 billion yuan, buoyed by its position as the world’s primary foreign-exchange hub.
Yuan internationalisation is also central to Hong Kong’s newest push: gold trading.
Lee said the city was considering tapping its Exchange Fund to buy more of the metal and would let the Hong Kong Monetary Authority trade directly in local spot and futures markets. The fund is the city’s main financial war chest and is used to defend the local currency.
While much of global gold trading still clears through London – whose bullion market has long set the global benchmark price – Hong Kong is building a regional alternative. The city rolled out trial operations earlier this year for a new clearing and settlement infrastructure tailored to settle gold trades in yuan.
The blueprint also targets asset and wealth management – a move that analysts said was designed to maintain Hong Kong’s edge over Singapore, as both hubs roll out competing tax exemptions to attract family offices and fund managers.
Stephen Yan, chairman of Singapore-headquartered wealth manager WRISE Prestige, said the five-year blueprint would help attract top professional talent, noting that “a growing number of clients who previously opened accounts in Singapore are shifting business back to Hong Kong”.
He added that Hong Kong’s broader array of investment products and deep integration with mainland Chinese markets – alongside planned enhancements to the Bond Connect scheme and local exchange-traded funds – gave the city a distinct competitive edge that would “significantly bolster its wealth-management sector”.


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Expanded investment products and stronger mainland-market links aim to deepen Hong Kong’s wealth-management edge and lure more international investors


Expanded investment products and stronger mainland-market links aim to deepen Hong Kong’s wealth-management edge and lure more international investors.


How Hong Kong’s new 5-year plan courts global capital with an eye on market dominance

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Expanded investment products and stronger mainland-market links aim to deepen Hong Kong’s wealth-management edge and lure more international investors

Expanded investment products and stronger mainland-market links aim to deepen Hong Kong’s wealth-management edge and lure more international investors