Response to Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan and Chief Executive's 2026 Policy
Release Date: 2026-09-16
Hong Kong’s first five-year plan
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Professionals Association welcomes Mr. John Lee, the Chief Executive’s publication of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan. The plan, with Part 2 on strengthening the four major centres and the high-level talent hub, and Part 4 on deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) development and building a global cooperation network, consolidates Hong Kong’s traditional strengths as an international financial, shipping and trading centre while fostering new growth through innovation and technology, talent, regional collaboration and international engagement. The Association considers the direction clear and comprehensive, closely aligned with national development strategies, and positive for the securities and futures profession and Hong Kong’s overall competitiveness.
From industry’s perspective, the Association particularly supports:
1. Strengthening Hong Kong as the world’s leading offshore RMB business hub, an international asset and wealth management centre, and an international risk management centre, which will deepen market liquidity and product diversity and support RMB internationalisation and risk-management innovation.
2. Optimising the stock and bond markets and expanding mutual access, including Bond Connect Southbound, Stock Connect, Wealth Management Connect and Private Equity Connect, and supporting quality enterprises to list in Hong Kong, thereby reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as the country’s financial opening-up pilot and international financing platform.
3. Building a commodity trading ecosystem, using gold as an entry point and promoting RMB-denominated commodities, the London Metal Exchange warehouse network and related clearing, storage and financing services, which will create new demand for futures and derivatives markets.
4. Advancing “Finance+” in innovation and technology, green development, digital assets, intellectual property, shipping and livelihood finance, while strengthening financial risk prevention, reflecting a balanced approach to serving the real economy and safeguarding financial security.
5. Developing GBA “hard connectivity”, “soft connectivity” and “heart connectivity” and major cooperation platforms, which will facilitate flows of talent, capital, data and professional qualifications and expand the market hinterland for Hong Kong’s professional services.
6. Deepening international engagement and Belt and Road cooperation and promoting Chinese standards, which will help Hong Kong play its role as a “super connector” and “super value-adder”.
From different angles, the Association offers constructive views: implementation should have clear timetables, KPIs and cross-departmental coordination; product innovation and regulatory sandboxes should be accelerated under controllable risks; cross-border data verification, mutual recognition of qualifications, investor education and talent support should be strengthened; and market liquidity, international promotion and mainland connectivity should advance in parallel. The Association will continue to work with the HKSAR Government, regulators, and mainland and overseas partners, offering professional views on implementation details to help Hong Kong become a more resilient and influential international financial centre serving the country’s high-quality development.
The 2026 Policy Address
The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA) welcomes the financial initiatives set out in the 2026 Policy Address. Viewed from the perspective of international investors and market efficiency, the measures are closely aligned with HKSFPA’s earlier submission and are positive, pragmatic and conducive to enhancing market efficiency, reducing systemic risk, promoting innovation and attracting global capital.
HKSFPA particularly welcomes the clear commitment to introduce T+1 settlement for the cash market, which echoes our recommendation and will help shorten settlement exposure, improve capital turnover and strengthen Hong Kong’s competitiveness. On digital finance, the regular issuance of digital bonds, the CMU OmniClear digital asset platform, the tokenised bond expert group, the virtual asset licensing regime, regulated stablecoins and the Ensemble CBDC settlement arrangements respond positively to our proposals on DLT legal frameworks, tokenised assets and real-time settlement. On asset and wealth management, the reforms to REITs, the attraction of overseas REIT dual listings, the relaxation of MPF ETF investment limits and the enhancement of family office tax measures are consistent with our call to upgrade the asset management ecosystem. On commodities and gold, the gold central clearing system, RMB-denominated gold futures, LME-recognised warehouses, the half-tax concession for commodities and the cross-departmental working group reflect our advocacy for strengthening commodity futures and risk management functions. On green finance and fintech, the ISSB standards, green stock certification, cross-boundary carbon trading, AI fraud detection, quantum preparedness and digital asset custody monitoring also support our position of balancing development and security.
From the perspective of a diversified market ecosystem, HKSFPA encourages the Government and regulators to continue addressing market data fees for small and medium-sized brokers, compliance transformation funding, Islamic finance, the De Minimis principle in AML, and transparency in MPF securities lending, so that policy benefits can be shared more widely and the market structure can remain balanced. Overall, HKSFPA considers the financial chapter of the 2026 Policy Address to be clear in direction and pragmatic in content. We stand ready to work with the Government, regulators and HKEX to turn these initiatives into concrete results.
Mofiz Chan
Chairman
The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association