Driven by the nation’s high-standard opening-up and surging global demand for reliable cross-border financial information, Hong Kong is positioned to reinforce its role as an international financial center and a leading platform for global accounting and auditing services, officials said at the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC) Regional Regulatory Forum on Monday.
China remains committed to expanding high-level opening-up and actively participating in global economic governance, including accounting and auditing regulation, while treating all institutions practicing within its borders equally, Guo Tingting, vice-minister of finance, said at the forum.
Guo said there are many new challenges, such as the accelerating pace of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and profound adjustments in the global economic landscape. In the face of these new circumstances, the only way forward is to deepen cross-border regulatory cooperation and improve global accounting and auditing governance, she said.
However, different legal regimes and accounting rules, compounded by friction in cross-border regulatory communication, may undermine global capital market transparency while opening avenues for regulatory arbitrage in financial fraud, she cautioned.
She said she believes Hong Kong remains an indispensable international financial center and a crucial platform for global accounting and auditing services, adding that the Ministry of Finance will, as always, support the prosperity and development of Hong Kong’s accounting and auditing industry.
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Developments in global trade, technology, and the green transition bring opportunities while demanding higher levels of trust and accountability — a reality “Hong Kong is experiencing firsthand,” said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.
He said that diversity and openness foster increased fundraising and cross-border investment flows. In the first 10 months of this year, Hong Kong recorded 121 initial public offerings (IPOs), raising over HK$400 billion ($51 billion) — a 40 percent increase compared to the total raised in the full year last year. Notably, around 60 percent of these new issuers have international business operations.
“More investment, more partnerships, and more companies concurrently operating in several markets. With that comes a growing demand for credible financial information that can be trusted across borders,” Chan said.
He said that the city should maintain prudent supervision while fostering market development. “We see these responsibilities as complementary and essential to the continued development of our financial markets.”
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David Sun Tak-kei, chairman of the AFRC, said that Hong Kong’s continued success as an international financial center “depends on investor confidence”. He said that while investment opportunities and sound governance attract capital and earn confidence, trust is what retains capital.
“At the heart of that trust are reliable financial reporting and high-quality auditing. Not merely technical requirements, but foundations of market confidence,” he said.
Kelvin Wong Tin-yau, chairman of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, also said that trust is vital to Hong Kong. He said that trust depends not only on the numbers, but also on the integrity of the process by which those numbers are prepared, challenged, and assured, a responsibility shared equally across audit committees, management, and auditors.
Contact the writer at akirawang@chinadailyhk.com
