Chen Haolian: The 2026-27 Hong Kong Financial Services Council research focuses on four major topics, including financial opportunities brought about by the evolution of trade and investment

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Hong Kong's Deputy Secretary for Treasury Chan Ho-lim said in a briefing on the work of the Hong Kong Financial Development Council at the Legislative Council Financial Services Committee meeting on November 6 that in the past year, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council continued to advance its work in policy research, marketing and talent development, in line with the government's policy goals of consolidating, developing and enhancing the advantages and status of Hong Kong's international financial center. In terms of policy research, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council will conduct research work on topics such as asset and wealth management, capital market development, and green and sustainable finance from 2025 to 26. In 2026-27, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council's research focused on four major topics, including financial opportunities brought about by the evolution of trade and investment, fintech innovation, capital market development and wealth management.

The Hong Kong Government has always been committed to following up on the policy proposals put forward by the Hong Kong Financial Services Council to inject new momentum into the development of Hong Kong's financial industry, such as:

The government will further optimize the preferential tax system for funds, single family offices, and ancillary benefits, including expanding the scope of the tax exemption system to cover large-scale single-investor funds, as well as more eligible investments, such as loans and private equity investments, digital assets, precious metals, etc. After the relevant revised bill is passed, the measures can be implemented from the 2025/26 tax year;

To further promote the development of real estate investment trusts (REITs), the Government will submit draft regulations this month to facilitate the privatization or restructuring of housing trusts. The Government also plans to submit a bill in the first half of 2027 to provide stamp duty relief for the transfer of non-residential properties by housing trust funds preparing to be listed; and

The Government uses gold as an entry point to promote the development of the commodity market. Measures include establishing a central clearing and settlement system for Hong Kong gold to provide efficient and reliable clearing services for international standard OTC gold transactions. The system began trial operation in July of this year, and the market response was ideal. The system will be officially launched in the first quarter of next year. A “Commodity Trading Joint Working Group” headed by the Secretary for Treasury of Hong Kong has been set up and held its first meeting in September. The working group is conducted by the Hong Kong Treasury and the Financial Supervisory Authority to conduct a comprehensive review of market opportunities and cross-exchange cooperation opportunities.

In terms of marketing, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council actively promotes Hong Kong's unique role and mentality as a global financial contact through activities and exchanges at home and abroad. In line with the government's policy of deepening traditional markets and exploring emerging markets, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council continues to expand cooperative relationships with domestic and foreign partners by signing memorandums of understanding, launch a global marketing video series that has recorded more than 50 million views, and prepared market development cooperation plans to invite stakeholders from ASEAN (ASEAN) and the Middle East region to exchange views in Hong Kong. The results of the Hong Kong Financial Services Council are obvious to all.

Talent development is very important for consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong's own strengths. In this regard, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council continues to host Talent Day, an annual key talent event to promote interaction between a new generation and industry leaders and nurture future financial professionals. Furthermore, as announced by the Chief Executive in the 2026 “Policy Address”, the Hong Kong Financial Services Council will launch a two-year “Financial Services Youth Internship Program” to work with the industry to provide 1,000 internship positions for young people related to financial services to assist youth employment and development.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong Wealth Heritage Institute, which was established under the structure of the Hong Kong Financial Services Council, continued to advance its work around its six “heritage and development goals”, and the results have been fruitful. As a strategic philanthropy platform, the College coordinates families to donate public art installations to promote cultural conservation and innovation through the ImpactLink (iLINK) project, and launched the iLink online portal to connect dozens of families and charitable projects to provide support for charitable decisions. On the other hand, as a knowledge partner, the College organized a new generation of family members to travel overseas to exchange experiences in family governance, succession development and long-term capital deployment with families and scholars from around the world, and tell the world the story of the Hong Kong family.