Money matters: Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Prof KC Chan highlights Hong Kong's strengths as a leading capital formation centre to 200 business executives in Seoul.

Hong Kong's close ties with major Chinese provinces and cities, as well as Macau and Taiwan, give Koreans vast investment opportunities and convenience in developing their business, Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Prof KC Chan says.

Speaking at a listing conference in Seoul today, he highlighted Hong Kong's strengths as a leading capital formation centre to 200 business executives.

With its highly open and internationalised financial platform and unique advantage under the One Country, Two Systems formula, Hong Kong is best positioned to serve as a gateway to the Mainland to capitalise on the nation's growth, he said.

"Our fundamental strengths include our simple and low taxes; high-quality services; free flow of information and capital with no foreign exchange controls, and a stable, fully convertible currency, as well as a free economy buttressed by the rule of law and an independent judiciary. Our regulatory regime is on a par with international standards, and our regulators are tasked to ensure a fair, transparent and orderly market."

Leveraging on those strengths and its unique advantage under One Country, Two Systems, Hong Kong is striving to develop into a global capital formation centre, asset management centre and offshore renminbi business centre, he added.

Tokyo trip

Prof Chan will call on senior Japanese finance officials in Tokyo tomorrow and have lunch with House of Representative member Banri Kaieda who is also Secretary General of the Japan-Hong Kong Parliamentarians' League.

He will speak at a listing conference and then talk to leading Japanese finance executives and think-tankers on recent developments in the region's financial markets at a roundtable dinner.