The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Christopher Hui, began visiting the Netherlands on June 3. He engaged with senior financial officials, regulators, and fintech and asset management professionals during his stay.
He also attended Money 20/20 Europe, the largest fintech event in Europe, where he participated in a fireside chat on June 4 to discuss Hong Kong’s financial innovations.
Christopher highlighted Hong Kong’s pioneering efforts in issuing tokenised green bonds. The first issuance in February 2023 was the world’s first government green bond issued through tokenisation.
The second, a multi-currency bond amounting to US$770 million (HK$60.12 trillion), was issued in early 2024, marking the first globally issued in a digitally native format.
These bonds attracted many institutional investors and showcased innovations that improved transparency and broadened investor access.
Christopher Hui
Christopher noted that Hong Kong aims to align its sustainability disclosure requirements with the International Financial Reporting Standards – Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB) regarding sustainable development. This commitment reinforces Hong Kong’s leading position in sustainable finance.
Regarding payments, Christopher discussed the mBridge project, a collaborative effort involving several central banks and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub. This project aims to provide a low-cost, fast payment method for international trade settlement using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Additionally, he mentioned the recent completion of public consultation on regulating stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong, a significant step towards developing the Web3 ecosystem.
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong also met with representatives from the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency and a venture capital firm to discuss building a sustainable Web3 ecosystem and promoting fintech collaboration.
On June 3, Christopher met with Joost Smits from the Dutch Ministry of Finance and Laura van Geest from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets to discuss mutual concerns related to financial regulation and bond issuance.
He also called the Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands, Tan Jian, to discuss the importance of a sustainable economy and innovation. He emphasized Hong Kong’s role in promoting cooperation between the Netherlands and Mainland China through the development of the Greater Bay Area.
During a dinner gathering with fintech, wealth management, and IT company heads in Amsterdam, he shared Hong Kong’s latest financial innovations for a sustainable Web3 ecosystem and its strengths in asset allocation and family office business development.
Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik