On February 26, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong John Tsang announced the 2014-15 budget, in which he mentioned that the development of the financial market should lean towards bonds. Over the past 10 years, investment immigration has become a major source of investment for the Hong Kong financial market. The Hong Kong government may restrict investment immigration categories in the future to support the development of the local bond market, which will affect the autonomy of Hong Kong investment immigration.
Since the launch of the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme 10 years ago, it has attracted a total of HK$167.3 billion in immigration investment. In 2013 alone, there were 9,227 applications for Hong Kong investment immigration, accounting for one-third of the total over the 10-year period. The influx of a large number of immigrants has brought in huge amounts of capital, becoming a major pillar of the Hong Kong financial market. Now that the government intends to focus on developing the bond market, immigrants have become the most convenient tool at hand.
Generally, countries with investment immigration programs use immigration investment as one of the main means of economic regulation. For example, after Canada's recent "one-size-fits-all" policy, it is considering adding a venture capital category to future immigration policies to balance domestic economic needs. The UK is also likely to increase the proportion of government bond investments in upcoming policy adjustments. Hong Kong's immigration policy often uses other countries as benchmarks for its own adjustments.
Promoting the local bond market is an important part of consolidating Hong Kong's status as an international financial center. In order to support the development of the local bond market, Hong Kong may refer to the precedents of other countries to adjust its immigration policy and restrict investment categories. Moreover, because bonds have controllable risks and predictable returns, they are highly favored by investors; therefore, it is highly likely that bonds will be designated as a mandatory investment product.
