Hong Kong, Shenzhen promote financial industry in New York

Hong Kong and Shenzhen had jointly organized a seminar in New York to promote business opportunities in their financial services, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Tuesday.

Officials from Invest Hong Kong, the business promotion arm of the HKSAR government, and the Bureau of Trade and Industry of Shenzhen explained to senior executives from the Wall Street the synergy offered by the two cities and the business benefits that companies can enjoy under a key trade agreement at the seminar Monday.

Simon Galpin, director-general of investment promotion of Invest Hong Kong, highlighted the potential and opportunities in Hong Kong's financial services sector.

"The Hong Kong stock market is the seventh largest in the world and third most capitalized in Asia. About 70 percent of the world's 100 largest banks are based in the city," he said.

Shenzhen, the Chinese mainland city neighboring Hong Kong, is home to one of the two national stock exchanges and a leading domestic fund management center, said Gao Lin, a senior official from the investment promotion branches of the Shenzhen government.

"Our city is well positioned to handle investment as well as increasing capital outflows from cash-rich enterprises eager to globalize," Gao said.

The cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, important as it is, is aimed at supporting and reaffirming Hong Kong's position as an international financial center, he added.

"As Asia's world city, Hong Kong has been serving as a gateway for foreign companies to invest in the Chinese mainland for years, and will continue to excel in this role," Galpin said.

Both Shenzhen and Hong Kong are in the Pearl River Delta, a manufacturing hub that has been striving to achieve world competitiveness under a state plan.