Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, recently engaged with Malaysian government officials and industry leaders to explore collaborative opportunities in finance and the gold market.
In a meeting with Adnan Zaylani Mohamad Zahid, Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Christopher Hui highlighted that Hong Kong, with its diversified capital markets and well-capitalized banking system, serves as a reliable partner for the central bank to explore further cooperation in areas including the gold market, tokenization, Renminbi business, and Islamic bonds.
During a meeting with Anil Singh Gill, President of the Fintech Association of Malaysia, Christopher Hui outlined key initiatives for fintech development. He emphasized that Hong Kong, backed by its robust regulatory environment and abundant business opportunities, is an ideal location for fintech growth.
Another objective of this visit was to attract more Malaysian enterprises to establish family offices in Hong Kong. Christopher Hui hosted a luncheon meeting with representatives from several family offices and related private investment companies, including Sunway Group, Berjaya Group, Royal Selangor, and RHL Ventures.
He introduced the participants to Hong Kong's thriving family office sector, noting that the number of single-family offices in the city has grown by over 25% in the past two years. The market also anticipates that cross-border wealth managed in Hong Kong will see an average annual growth of approximately 9% between 2025 and 2030.
To foster a more attractive business environment for family offices, Hong Kong has submitted legislative proposals to further refine its preferential tax regime, expanding it to cover more eligible investment types such as private debt investments and precious metals.
Christopher Hui attended the New Era of Global Family Offices Summit hosted by the Hong Kong Trustees' Association's Kuala Lumpur office. In his keynote speech, he assured attendees that Hong Kong, with its sound legal system, forward-looking fiscal framework, and longstanding position as a top global family office hub, serves as a "stabilizing anchor" amidst global uncertainties.
He elaborated further: "The data concerning Hong Kong is not merely impressive figures on paper; it represents a powerful and undeniable market signal that ultra-high-net-worth families are actively choosing Hong Kong to establish, expand, and build their intergenerational legacies. Earlier this month, our securities regulator released its annual survey, showing that assets under management in Hong Kong surged 20% year-on-year in 2025 to a record $5.4 trillion. Net fund inflows into Hong Kong nearly tripled year-on-year, reaching $265 billion."
He encouraged attendees to utilize Hong Kong as a gateway for deploying private capital to invest in global opportunities. By establishing family offices in Hong Kong, they can leverage the city's strengths to unlock unparalleled structural synergies. These include Hong Kong's role as the world's largest offshore Renminbi business center, the new gold central clearing and settlement system overseen by the wholly government-owned Hong Kong Precious Metals Clearing Company Limited, and the initial phase of the "Physical Connect" launched in collaboration with the Shanghai Gold Exchange.
In a meeting with Pang Ah Poo, President of the Federation of Goldsmiths & Jewellers Association of Malaysia, Christopher Hui conveyed that Hong Kong is committed to building a scalable, unified platform for global participants, offering reliable services such as clearing, connectivity, price discovery, risk management, warehousing, and insurance.
He noted that major market participants have shown strong support for Hong Kong's pilot-phase gold central clearing and settlement system, with trading volumes for US dollar gold futures contracts consistently reaching new highs and a significant amount of gold already deposited in designated warehouses. The Malaysian gold industry can explore collaborative opportunities by leveraging Hong Kong's new initiatives.
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