Paul Chan vows to champion Hong Kong market, diversify funding sources after US rate cut

Hong Kong’s finance chief has vowed to intensify efforts to promote the city and diversify its sources of funding, as the business environment benefited from the lowered US interest rate and improvements in the local stock market.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said on Sunday that Hong Kong’s speed and the extent of its alignment with the US rate cut would depend on “local capital flows and market conditions”.

Hong Kong’s largest commercial banks decreased their prime lending rates for the first time in nearly five years, a move in lockstep with the half-percentage point cut by the US Federal Reserve last week.

Chan said the rate reduction and response by major banks would create a “loose financial environment”, benefiting asset market sentiment and the business climate in the industrial and commercial sectors.

“As the macro-outlook gradually becomes relatively favourable, we need to further intensify our efforts to promote the Hong Kong market,” he wrote in his weekly blog.