Paul Chan: Hong Kong is a safe haven for investors' funds

Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, April 5—In a blog post published on April 5, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said that in March, the average daily trading value of Hong Kong stocks exceeded 300 billion yuan (Hong Kong dollars, the same shall apply hereinafter), up more than 8% year-on-year over the same period last year. This reflects that Hong Kong, as a reliable safe haven for capital, is benefiting from steady growth in the economy on the Chinese mainland and a large number of high-quality enterprises listing in Hong Kong, providing investors with abundant investment opportunities.

On March 24, 2026, the Hang Seng Index closed at 25,063.71 points, up 681.24 points, a gain of 2.79%. The total trading value for the day was HK$303.073 billion. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yongnuo

Chan Mo-po said that as of March 27, the amount of funds raised by Hong Kong’s IPOs (initial public offerings) this year had already exceeded 103 billion yuan, ranking first globally. Together with subsequent financing and other related activities, the total fund-raising scale was about 237 billion yuan. More importantly, more and more of the enterprises listing in Hong Kong are in emerging industries, and at present the number of application cases pending listing in Hong Kong has exceeded 500. It can be said that more and more companies are viewing Hong Kong as an important window for financing and for “going global” development.

He said that Hong Kong is using a “Finance+” strategy to support the country’s development of new quality productive forces, and to actively contribute to building a modernized industrial system for the country. Recently, Hong Kong has once again been confirmed as one of the global three largest international financial centers, indicating that the continuous development of the mainland economy and the strong support the country provides to Hong Kong are the biggest underpinning for Hong Kong’s position as an international financial center.

Chan Mo-po said that Hong Kong’s real economy also saw overall improvement in the first quarter this year, including that in the first two months, the value of commodity exports increased by nearly three tenths year-on-year; retail total sales value has risen for 10 consecutive months, with the growth rate noticeably accelerating compared with the fourth quarter of last year, showing that consumer confidence in Hong Kong is gradually improving. (End)