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Financial and Monetary Affairs
As an international financial centre, Hong Kong is well-positioned to contribute to the ADB's efforts in bridging the financing gap in the region. In 2018, the city's capital markets raised the equivalent of some US$472 million for the ADB's Global Medium-term Note Programme.
HKMA Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office
The Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office facilitates infrastructure investments and financing by working with key stakeholders, thereby raising Hong Kong's international profile as an infrastructure financing centre. The office maintains an effective collaborative network of key stakeholders, having welcomed 95 organisations from Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas as partners by end-2018.
During the year, the office hosted seven seminars on topics including project preparation, co- investment experience sharing, risk mitigation and public-private partnerships. In October, it hosted the second Investors and Debt Financing Roundtables, during which a debt financing reference term sheet was developed to provide project owners and developers with a tool to make their projects more 'bankable' and to facilitate private-sector financing of projects in emerging markets.
Belt and Road Insurance Exchange Facilitation
Hong Kong, being a global risk management centre and regional insurance hub, is in an advantageous position to seize opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative. On 11 December, the IA launched the Belt and Road Insurance Exchange Facilitation platform for key stakeholders to exchange intelligence on risk management and insurance and to forge alliances. By the year end, 29 insurers, reinsurers and insurance brokers had joined as members.
Green Finance
Hong Kong is making progress in establishing itself as the region's green finance hub. Green bonds arranged and issued in Hong Kong in the year totalled US$11 billion, an increase of 237 per cent from 2017. The issuers were private corporations from Hong Kong, the Mainland and abroad, and multilateral agencies such as the ADB, World Bank and European Investment Bank.
The Financial Secretary announced in the 2018-19 Budget a three-year Pilot Bond Grant Scheme to attract local, Mainland and overseas enterprises to issue bonds, including green bonds, in Hong Kong. The scheme was launched in May.
In June, the Green Bond Grant Scheme was launched to subsidise eligible green bond issuers in obtaining certification under the Green Finance Certification Scheme, established in January by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency. The HKMA hosted the International Capital Markets Association's Green and Social Bond Principles Annual General Meeting and Conference, and a seminar with the PBOC on Hong Kong-Mainland green finance opportunities, altogether attracting some 1,300 market participants. The events showcased Hong Kong's credentials as a premier centre for green finance.
In September, the SFC announced the Strategic Framework for Green Finance. The framework goes beyond Hong Kong's current focus on green bonds and includes enhancing listed
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