Hong Kong's finance sector to benefit from AI, China opening, Asia wealth: think tank

Hong Kong's financial sector is well positioned to benefit from the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), China's opening up and wealth creation in the region, the chairman of the Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) said on Monday.

Hong Kong's markets will play a big role in helping companies raise funds, while the liberalisation of China's financial sector would strengthen the city's role as a link between the mainland and the rest of the world, said Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng.

Additionally, the growing wealth of Asian business families could spur them to set up family offices in the city to invest and engage in succession planning, the veteran banker said.

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"Overall, Hong Kong has a lot of growth opportunities," Hung said in his first media briefing since becoming the chairman of the government think tank in January. "What we need to do is to tell the world more about the real picture of Hong Kong."

The rise of DeepSeek has proved to be a catalyst for Hong Kong's stock market. Photo: AFP alt=The rise of DeepSeek has proved to be a catalyst for Hong Kong's stock market. Photo: AFP>

Hung, who is also the international president of Standard Chartered, said many people overseas viewed the city in a negative light mainly due to what he called misleading media reports that said Hong Kong had lost its verve and freedoms.

"FSDC members will go on roadshows to tell the real story of Hong Kong," Hung said. He said the ongoing market rally made it a good time to promote the city, as sentiment had improved substantially since China announced a stimulus package to support the economy in September, which was followed by DeepSeek's momentum-boosting breakthrough in January.

The Hang Seng Index has advanced more than 17 per cent this year after an 18 per cent gain in 2024. The Hang Seng Tech Index has advanced more than 35 per cent since Hangzhou-based DeepSeek unveiled an open-source ­reasoning model that was comparable with those developed by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google - but at a much lower cost.

"DeepSeek's technology breakthrough is a catalyst for international investors to change their views about the Hong Kong market," Hung said.

He said the rising daily stock market turnover - which averaged HK$300 billion (US$38.5 billion) for most of last week, more than double the average daily turnover of HK$131 billion last year, was proof that foreign investors had returned to the market.