Hong Kong is an international banking centre, with over 70 of the largest 100 banks in the world having a presence and over 29 multinational banks having their regional headquarters in Hong Kong. The banking sector at a glance can be found here.
Banking stability is a cornerstone of financial stability. One of the HKMA’s primary functions is to regulate and supervise banking business and the business of taking deposits, with a view to promoting the stability and integrity of the financial system (including the banking system).
Banks act as intermediaries in the financial system, providing a wide range of services such as deposit-taking, lending, investment and insurance. In order to ensure the safety of customer deposits, the HKMA requires banks to conduct their business prudently, maintain adequate capital, and manage their credit, liquidity, technology, money-laundering and other risks properly.
To ensure effective regulation and supervision on banks, the HKMA reviews and enhances its regulatory regime from time to time and is committed to implementing the latest international standards in Hong Kong.
As a resolution authority, the HKMA seeks to ensure that any bank failure is orderly such that continuity in critical financial functions provided by banks to their customers can be maintained.
Promoting good banking conduct complements the HKMA’s prudential supervisory work. The policy objective of conduct supervision is to ensure that bank customers are properly protected, thereby enhancing public confidence in the banking system.
At the same time, to ensure the banking sector in Hong Kong remains competitive, the HKMA has launched various initiatives that prepare Hong Kong to move into a new era of Smart Banking.
The activities of the HKMA during the year on maintaining banking stability can be found in the Banking Stability chapter of the HKMA Annual Report. The performance of the banking sector in Hong Kong can be found in the Economic and Financial Environment chapter of the HKMA Annual Report, Banking Sector Performance chapter of the Half-Yearly Monetary & Financial Stability Report, and the regular article on Developments in the Banking Sector in Quarterly Bulletin.
Note: For ease of understanding from a layman’s angle, the more general term “banks” is used in some webpages of this website to represent “authorized institutions” (or AIs) as defined under the Banking Ordinance where appropriate.
