MOTION ON “PROMOTING HIGH-QUALITY DEVELOPMENT TO BUILD CHINA INTO A FINANCIAL POWERHOUSE”
Deputy President, the Central Financial Work Conference held last year put forward the objective of accelerating the building of China into a financial powerhouse, and clearly identified the “six strong” key core financial elements. Hong Kong is precisely the embodiment of a “strong international financial centre”. In his speech delivered at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, Mr HE Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, pointed out that the next five years will be crucial for Hong Kong to break new ground and make a new leap forward. Building, consolidating and developing Hong Kong as an international financial centre is not only necessary for Hong Kong, but also important to the country. He firmly acknowledged the close relationship between building the country into a financial powerhouse and Hong Kong. I would like to thank Mr Robert LEE for proposing this motion, urging the Government to lead Hong Kong’s financial services industry in injecting new impetus into the country’s high-quality economic development.
One of the key factors contributing to Hong Kong’s transformation from a small fishing village into an international financial centre is the growing pool of international financial talents from around the world. These talents have rich financial and management experience, global vision and multicultural backgrounds. They understand the workings and rules of the international market. They can promote the exchange of knowledge and information between the local and international markets, and foster financial innovation and cooperation. In addition, they provide accurate economic forecasts to the Government and enterprises to ensure the effective implementation of financial policies and measures that are in line with national development strategies. Over the years, high-calibre, professional and internationalized financial talents have helped Hong Kong to continuously enhance its competitiveness and influence in the global market.
At the Summit, Vice Premier HE put forward three proposals on Hong Kong’s financial development: first, to further deepen financial reform and innovation; second, to expand financial opening-up and cooperation; and third, to actively align with the country’s development strategies. High-calibre talents are required to take forward these three proposals. Therefore, in my amendment, I propose to “bring together international financial talents to build a high-calibre team of financial talents”, so that Hong Kong can become an incubator for “a strong team of financial talents”, which is one of the “six strong” key core elements.
There are two main ways to build a team of talents: training local talents or importing and attracting talents to Hong Kong. Training talents takes time. Training local talents can hardly meet the demand arising from the current financial development in a short period of time. While continuing to train local talents, it is more important for the Government to attract international talents to Hong Kong.
According to a survey, nearly 80% of the successful applicants of the Top Talent Pass Scheme have already taken up employment in Hong Kong. Most of them are engaged in the finance, innovation and technology, financial technology and professional services industries. This shows that the scheme is very helpful in attracting high-calibre talents. With the rapid development of the financial market, there is a great demand for high-calibre financial talents. If the Government can draw reference from the Technology Talent Admission Scheme and introduce a designated talent admission scheme for financial talents, so as to provide a fast track for financial enterprises to bring in the required specialized talents, the gap in the market will be filled more expeditiously.
Besides, in exchanging views with some senior executives of multinational financial enterprises, I have learnt that Hong Kong has several attraction points for high-calibre financial talents from overseas. First, Hong Kong retains the characteristics of both Chinese and Western cultures, offering rich and diverse food, accommodation and entertainment options. In terms of food, there are more than 200 Michelin-starred restaurants in Hong Kong. In terms of accommodation, in addition to the luxurious Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island, Discovery Bay and Sai Kung are options away from the city centre in a quiet environment. As for entertainment, available options include Lan Kwai Fong, a number of international mega events (e.g. Hong Kong Sevens) and hiking in the countryside. Second, Hong Kong has a mature international education system, with many international schools and top universities offering a wide range of programmes to meet the educational needs of different families. Third, with our free flow of information and high market transparency, we can maintain a close connection with the global market, enabling financial professionals to make quick decisions and seize market opportunities. The fourth is our tax policy. Hong Kong has signed Comprehensive Double Taxation Agreements with 51 jurisdictions, which reduce the tax burden on talents coming to Hong Kong from different regions.
The SAR Government should make full use of and continuously enhance the above-mentioned unique advantages, publicize them to the international community and even proactively reach out to different countries to recruit more financial talents to Hong Kong, so as to build Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talents.
I support the original motion, and I urge Members to support my amendment. I so submit.