00:00We're just about wrapping up. Yeah. Invest Hong Kong. You kick things off with the financial
00:04secretary. What stood out to you? Well, it's interesting, right? When we started off with
00:08talking about the momentum that we're seeing in the economy, right? We talk about the AI boom
00:12and exports and imports. That's really flattering growth. You have the IPO market that continues
00:17to be high. Well, the momentum continues to be quite strong. Take the IPO market, for example,
00:26the number of companies queuing up for listing over 400. So he thinks that things can continue
00:33in some ways. But then again, the regulatory environment is changing. The wings have shifted
00:38now after what we've been covering the last couple of weeks, where Beijing has clamped down
00:43on the sort of illicit cross-border stock trading. And whether this actually filters through or spreads
00:50to other parts of the financial services sector, like, for example, IPOs, the wealth side of
00:56things. And really, Paul Chan says, you know, he's certainly said to downplay those concerns.
01:01What are you hearing on the ground? Number one, the central authorities are very supportive
01:08of Hong Kong. They want Hong Kong to succeed as an international financial center. So no doubt
01:15about it. This is one. Number two, the reason crackdown mainly on those people who move their
01:24funds to Hong Kong for different investments, not for legitimate means. So if they if the capital
01:31inflow are in the proper channel, they still are encouraged. Compliance is a good thing. I think
01:39it's a message that I got to from Bonnie Chan when I spoke with her about the very topic. She
01:44didn't
01:44seem bothered at the very least. I feel that global investors have now really turned their focus back
01:53to this part of the world. And, you know, two years ago, I probably will still be trying my very
02:00best to
02:01debate whether or persuade global investors about the investability of China. Now, I think the
02:08assumption is it's very investable. Yeah, I think that echoes kind of what Susan Chan, the head of
02:13APAC for BlackRock, was saying that they see this A.I. tech sell off as some sort of opportunity for
02:20them, because that's what clients are wanting at this moment when things are volatile, that they can
02:24actually do selective positioning here to try to gather some returns. Clients are willing to put money
02:31to work. Every sell off. We don't see a rush to de-risk. If anything, we do see selective position
02:39risk on again. And we're seeing that yesterday. So I think, you know, this is an opportunity for us to
02:48look at where there are pockets to generate that alpha return. And our investment teams are doing that.
02:55Our clients are expecting us to do that. Sure, the markets are volatile. But when markets are volatile,
03:03that is the opportunity for us to generate excess return. There we go. So I think the headlines and the
03:10base comparison from last year are not as flattering. Yeah. We are comparing, of course,
03:14a fantastic year that Hong Kong had in 2025. And so far, six months into the year, it does seem
03:19that
03:19people on the ground are a lot more optimistic than what the headlines suggest.
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