In a commercial rental market beset by high vacancy rates, many Hong Kong landlords feel stuck between a rock and a hard place: giving tenants a break on rent makes it harder to pay mortgages and threatens asset value, but holding the line on rent runs the risk of driving tenants away. In this difficult…
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stepped into the foreign-exchange market on Friday for the fifth time in two weeks, scooping up the local currency and increasing overnight lending costs to drive away carry traders who have sought to take advantage of the city’s rate gap with the US dollar. The city’s de facto central…
Hong Kong’s major social media, messaging platform providers and telecoms firms have pledged to strengthen checks on advertisers’ identities and remove fraudulent advertisements embedded with phishing links. Seven social media or messaging platforms and six telecommunications companies have joined the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) Anti-scam Consumer Protection Charter 3.0. The initiative commits them to…
The GENAI Summit Hong Kong is designed to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing, offering a dynamic platform for attendees to dive into the practical applications of GenAI in industries such as finance, healthcare, marketing, education, and entertainment. With an expected attendance of over 500+ participants and representatives from leading gen AI tech companies, the event promises…
When BlackRock’s chairman Larry Fink declared in his annual letter that “every stock, every bond, every fund – every asset – can be tokenised”, he wasn’t forecasting some distant revolution. He was describing a shift already under way – one that is beginning to reshape how capital is formed, how assets are distributed and who…
Hong Kong stocks rose from a one-week low as mainland funds ploughed more money into the city’s assets on optimism that Beijing will push for high-quality growth and rein in excessive price competition in some industries. The Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 per cent to 24,182.88 at 9.50am local time on Wednesday, while the Hang…
Hong Kong’s approved mortgage loans surged to a one-year high in May as more homebuyers sought to refinance their existing loans amid lower bank rates, according to data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Banks approved HK$26.6 billion (US$3.39 billion) worth of loans in May, a 5.3 per cent rise from a month earlier,…
Hong Kong’s approved mortgage loans surged to a one-year high in May as more homebuyers sought to refinance their existing loans amid lower bank rates, according to data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Banks approved HK$26.6 billion (US$3.39 billion) worth of loans in May, a 5.3 per cent rise from a month earlier,…
Hong Kong authorities will strive to create a conducive environment for the wide-ranging application of stablecoins in a bid to provide practical help for businesses to resolve cross-border payment issues, the city’s finance chief has said. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday reaffirmed the government’s efforts in applying fintech to resolve long-standing “pain points”…
In a call to action for greater investment to accelerate the development of blockchain infrastructure, industry group Web3 Harbour and accounting firm PwC Hong Kong released the “Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint” on Monday, capitalising on recent momentum in the city. Highlighting the “transparency, security, and user empowerment” of decentralisation, the blueprint seeks to leverage what…