Paul Chan backs Hong Kong to be world’s No 2 financial hub within 15 years
Finance chief says city’s strengths are its stable environment and strong growth
Hong Kong’s finance chief has expressed confidence that the city will climb to at least second place in the global ranking of international financial centres within 10 to 15 years.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Wednesday at the HSBC Global Investment Summit that the city offered stability and prosperity in uncertain times, citing its strong gross domestic product growth of 3.5 per cent last year, as well as robust export performance and rising private investments.
“We went through ups and downs over the decade. Hong Kong people are very agile, very flexible, and the business sector is extremely smart and intelligent. We always realign ourselves in response to changing geopolitics,” he said.
“Look at Hong Kong now from the perspective of 10, 15 years later, I’m very confident Hong Kong surely will not be just number three in terms of international financial centre ranking, at least the second.”
Hong Kong retained its position as Asia’s top financial centre and ranked third globally, according to the latest Global Financial Centres Index released last month.
The city scored 756 points, just one point behind London and two points short of top-ranked New York, while edging Singapore by a single point.