Follow Hong Kong Immigration and Hong Kong Economic Development: Norman Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), along with representatives from the Hong Kong Association of Banks, met with Vice Premier of the State Council Ma Kai in Beijing on the 18th. After the meeting, Chan quoted Ma Kai as saying that the Central Government unwaveringly supports Hong Kong's status as an international financial center.
Chan stated that Ma Kai mentioned during the meeting that the internationalization of the Renminbi is a long but inevitable process. While Renminbi business has accelerated in some regions recently, it will not affect Hong Kong's role as an offshore Renminbi center, as Hong Kong started earlier, has close geographical and economic ties with the Mainland, possesses the largest existing business scale, and offers a wider variety of Renminbi products.
Chan pointed out that the establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is not a threat to Hong Kong's status as a financial center, but rather an opportunity. Shanghai and Hong Kong should strengthen cooperation in finance and other areas to share the dividends of reform.
Chan noted that Hong Kong's Renminbi business is developing steadily and continuously. In the first eight months of this year, Renminbi trade settlement transactions handled by Hong Kong banks reached nearly 2.3 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 30% year-on-year. The offshore Renminbi liquidity pool in Hong Kong has also grown steadily; as of the end of August, the total balance of customer deposits and certificates of deposit issued by banks was approximately 870 billion yuan. Currently, the balance of "dim sum bonds" is nearly 300 billion yuan, and Renminbi bank loans exceed 110 billion yuan.