HK's role as booking center be enhanced: report

A report released on Wednesday by Hong Kong's Financial Services Development Council set out recommendations for enhancing the region's position as a preferred booking center.

"We support Hong Kong in becoming a key booking center, which will bring about more economic activities," which, Chairman of the council Laura Cha said, would offer both quantitative and qualitative benefits for Hong Kong.

This would help increase asset allocation, liquidity and volume of transactions, which would not only translate into significant financial revenues for Hong Kong, but also promote job creation in the areas of financial operations, risk management and compliance, Cha said.

The report noted that although Hong Kong has actively introduced changes to its regulatory environment to align its standards with international benchmarks, inconsistencies across markets still exist and financial institutions may take advantage of potential regulatory arbitrage in picking what they consider to be more favorable booking locations.

"There may be concern about the potential of risk accumulation as a result of increased booking activities. We believe the government would tackle this through appropriate policies and strike a balance between deepening Hong Kong's financial markets and maintaining our regulatory strength," Cha said.

Hong Kong at the very least must encourage booking of transactions with a Hong Kong nexus or connection, especially with respect to transactions related to Chinese Mainland, she added. Endi