The
City state of Hong Kong with a population of over
seven million, under British colonial rule until July
1, 1997, has indeed prospered under Chinese decade
long, sovereignty, as a Special Administrative Region
(SAR). Hong
Kong exhibited great resilience following the Southeast
Asian Crisis of 1997, when major Japanese banks withdrew
massive funds from its economy. There were no failures
of banks or property companies; nor there was need
for any bail out operations.
What saved Hong Kong
at that point of time was its superior financial infrastructure,
its natural geographic advantages in being a major
transhipment and reexport center and the dynamism
of the local business community. Its low tax regime
has also helped substantially: It hosts over 200 of
Fortune 500 companies and more than 2,000 Japanese
companies. Hong Kong is a truly international class
center for finance, banking, trade and commerce. It
boasts of quality services in value chain and logistics
management globally. Under the British raj, it imbibed
cosmopolitan culture, the rule of law, free access
to information and the value of freedom.
Hong
Kong has the presence of 76 of the world's largest
banks. It is the third largest international center
in Asia, in terms of external transactions. It is
also the second largest loan syndication center in
Asia and the world's sixth largest foreign exchange
center. Banking sector in Hong Kong has assets over
five times of the Gross Domestic product (GDP). Its
emergence as a primer league player in finance is
attributable to its high standard of market transparency,
disclosure and prudential supervision. |
