Financial Secretary Paul Chan

The Offshore China Fund Awards honours last year's elite performers in the Mainland's fund-management sector - business professionals who have excelled in meeting, and surpassing, changing market needs. In all, 36 well-deserved awards will be given out.

Beyond the stars, the industry in general has performed in excellence, despite the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of 2020, your sector's funding totalled nearly HK$35 trillion, up a cheering 21%, year on year.

Our goal is clear: to develop Hong Kong into an international asset- and wealth-management centre. That vision is being realised through the industry's top-class professionalism and the continuing support of the governments in Hong Kong and cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, together with Mainland regulators.

The most recent initiative, the Greater Bay Area Wealth Management Connect, got going last September. As of last December, more than 21,000 individual investors had participated, acquiring financial products totaling RMB240 million. In the long run, the cross-boundary scheme will take our fund-management and offshore renminbi businesses to another level entirely.

We also welcome family offices to establish a presence here, capitalising on Hong Kong's singular advantages. In my Budget announced last month, I proposed tax concessions for investment vehicles managed by single family offices. We hope to submit the proposal to the Legislative Council later this year.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivered this video speech at the Offshore China Fund Awards 2021 on March 18.