The remarks came in a keynote speech Chan delivered at the Bank of China RMB Internationalisation Forum 2025, where he noted that such developments are not aimed at challenging the status of other international currencies.
“The internationalisation of the renminbi has never been aimed at challenging or replacing the status of other currencies. Therefore, it is unnecessary for some people to view it with a zero-sum game mindset,” he told participants.
“Hong Kong is a testing ground for the country’s high-level financial opening-up, the city also serves as a firewall,” he said.
The finance chief said the city will make good use of its unique advantages linking domestic markets with the world to seize on the opportunities brought by economic and trade cooperation between the country and Asean, the Middle East and the Belt and Road countries.
The SAR government, he added, will also continue to promote the internationalisation of the renminbi by increasing the liquidity of offshore renminbi, increasing the issuance of renminbi bonds, speeding up the inclusion of renminbi counters in the Southbound Connect under the Stock Connect programmes, as well as improving connectivity with the mainland’s rapid payment system to facilitate capital flows.
Echoing Chan, Sun Yu, vice chairman and chief executive of Bank of China (Hong Kong), noted that the SAR is gradually transitioning from an offshore renminbi payment centre to a renminbi financing hub, due to surging interest.
“The variety of renminbi products in Hong Kong is gradually increasing, and the related financial infrastructure and supporting facilities are also becoming more and more developed,” Sun said.
“This has attracted more international investors, numerous multilateral institutions, and non-bank financial institutions to express their interest and allocation needs for renminbi assets. It also reflects that Hong Kong is evolving from an offshore renminbi payment centre into a renminbi financing centre, investment centre, as well as risk management centre.”
Sun also said that as global financial markets have become more volatile in recent times, Hong Kong can play a significant role to help fend off financial risks by leveraging its mature financial markets as well as regulatory strengths.
Separately, Kenneth Hui, executive director (external) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, noted that renminbi bonds issued in the SAR exceeded 1 trillion yuan last year, which was more than the overall deposits in the city.
He added that the use of the renminbi has increased rapidly in recent years thanks to rising cross-border trade, and that the proportion of renminbi used in the mainland’s global trade has doubled over the past three years to 30 percent, as the renminbi trade settlement processed by banks in the SAR increased to 15 trillion yuan last year from 7 trillion in 2021.
