ENG-2016 — Page 103

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Financial and Monetary Affairs

Financial Dispute Resolution Centre

The Financial Dispute Resolution Centre administers in an independent and impartial manner a scheme to facilitate the resolution of monetary disputes between individual customers and financial institutions by 'mediation first, arbitration next. To raise public awareness of its services, the centre launched programmes in 2016 that promoted its services to industry professionals and the public. It also conducted a consultation on how to enhance its services.

Auditor Regulatory Reform

The international trend is for oversight of the regulation of auditors of public interest entities to be independent of the profession itself. The government is continuing its liaison with the relevant stakeholders on detailed proposals to reform Hong Kong's regulatory regime for auditors of listed entities following a public consultation exercise concluded in 2015 and is preparing an amendment bill for implementation.

Money Lenders

The government tackles money lending-related malpractice through enhanced enforcement, public education and publicity, advisory services to the public, and more stringent licensing conditions on money lenders. The more stringent licensing conditions, which were imposed on all money licences by the Licensing Court, took effect in December. A money lender is required to undertake due diligence before entering into a loan agreement, particularly when a third party is involved, to protect the borrowers' interest.

Corporate Insolvency Law

The Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 aims to improve and modernise Hong Kong's corporate winding-up regime to increase creditor protection, streamline the winding-up process and enhance its integrity. LegCo enacted the ordinance in May.

Hong Kong as China's Global Financial Centre

Capital Formation Centre and Global Investment Platform for Mainland

Hong Kong is the ideal centre for Mainland enterprises to raise capital. The growing presence of Mainland companies listed on the SEHK has in turn increased the breadth and depth of Hong Kong's securities and futures markets through a greater diversity of products and of constituent stocks in the equity market. Mainland enterprises also raise capital in Hong Kong through the issuance of bonds, project financing and loan syndication. Moreover, they can leverage Hong Kong's position as an international business centre and its world-class investment banking services to invest in international markets via mergers and acquisitions.

Offshore RMB Business

In 2016, Hong Kong maintained its status as the global offshore RMB business hub despite a moderation in RMB business worldwide. Total offshore RMB liquidity in Hong Kong, including customer deposits and outstanding certificates of deposit, fell 38.1 per cent to RMB625.1 billion at the end of 2016, but the city remained the largest offshore RMB business hub in the world and continued to support a large amount of payment activities taking place locally. Average

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