Hong Kong must embrace Middle East capital, mainland China culture, to bolster role as financial centre: industry leaders
- Amid US-China tensions, government ‘urgently’ needs a Middle East strategy, chairperson of the Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies says
- Finance sector must be boldly ‘capitalistic’ and also hang on to its English proficiency, securities association head says at Post’s China Conference
Amid geopolitical tension between China and the US, Hong Kong needs to look beyond US markets and court the Middle East as a source of capital as it seeks to burnish its position as an international finance centre, according to the chairperson of the Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies.
“I think we have an issue in Hong Kong today, in the fact that despite the infrastructure [in the financial system], there is a lack of capital flow coming from the US,” Catherine Leung, who is also co-founder and partner with MizMaa Ventures, said at a conference on Tuesday. “[The US] represents the biggest and the deepest pool of capital in the world.”
Hong Kong needs to be proactive in finding other sources of capital if the city wants to be an international financial centre, and not just a financial centre, Leung added during a panel discussion at the Post’s China Conference at the St Regis hotel.
“There is some hedge fund money from the US, but not much,” she said. “And so, we are caught in the geopolitics of it all … I think the Hong Kong government, if I may say so, needs very urgently to have a Middle East strategy.”
The government needs to establish a system in the Middle East and work to develop long-term relationships, because sources of capital there will not just “give you money”, she said, adding that two-way partnerships are preferred.
