While on a visit, the director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore, Subrina Chow, has disclosed that Hong Kong would like to develop closer financial links with Brunei, particularly in the field of Islamic finance products.
Hong Kong’s government believes that there is an excellent opportunity to develop closer financial and other economic ties between Hong Kong and Brunei. John Tsang Chun-Wah, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, will be visiting Brunei next month to discuss these issues.
Subrina Chow, in Brunei as a precursor to his subsequent visit, noted that, despite the issue of Islamic bonds from Hong Kong over the past few years, it is still a relative novice in Islamic finance. It therefore feels the need to diversify and increase the volume of the Islamic products and services it is currently able to provide.
In fact, in November 2009, speaking at the Islamic Finance Symposium in Tokyo, the Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury, KC Chan, said that Hong Kong would implement a platform for the development of Islamic finance. "We believe Hong Kong is well placed to become a centre for Islamic finance in Asia,” Chan then stated.
“Our sound financial services infrastructure and well-established legal system make Hong Kong an attractive location for such investments," he added. The city's unique advantage, he believed, could lie in its role in bridging the Mainland of China to the investment needs of the Middle East.
The assistance that Hong Kong could offer to Brunei would therefore lie, primarily, in the use that Brunei could make of Hong Kong’s well-developed capital markets, while Hong Kong would thereby develop a capability in Islamic finance and insurance. Subrina Chow added overseas businesses were welcome to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange and raise capital.
While, in the past, Hong Kong has developed ties with its closest trading partners – Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – it is now looking further afield in the Asian region, to Indonesia and Vietnam, and now also Brunei.
A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series giving a country-by-country analysis of offshore investment funds, stock exchanges and trusts, with an analysis of the US QI regime, is available in the Lowtax Library at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp and a description of the report can be seen at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report9.asp
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