Financial Infrastructure in
Hong Kong
The HKMA plays a key role in developing a safe and efficient financial infrastructure in Hong Kong, which is essential to the stability and integrity of the monetary and financial systems. Hong Kong has developed a sound financial infrastructure expediting economic transactions and financial intermediation in the region based on a multi-currency, multi-dimensional platform, and introduced a number of improvements to smooth payment flows and enable banks to use liquidity more efficiently. The platform, which handles real-time transactions in major foreign currencies and the Hong Kong dollar, and covers diverse financial intermediation channels including banking, equity and debt, helps consolidate Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre. Hong Kong's financial infrastructure meets current best international standards, and closely supports the city's economic development.
In response to industry demands and international developments, new components have been added to broaden the scope and increase the depth of the financial infrastructure in Hong Kong. For example, order routing and settlement system for investment funds, trade repository for over-the-counter (OTC) financial derivatives and retail payment infrastructure.
Financial infrastructures in Hong Kong fall into three broad types:
- Payment systems for the settlement of interbank payments;
- Debt securities settlement system for the settlement and custody of debt securities; and
- Domestic and external system links to provide payment-versus-payment and delivery-versus-payment services, locally and across the border respectively.
Hong Kong’s multi-currency Payment and Settlement Infrastructure
(Click to enlarge)