KPMG China Tax experts Murray Sarelius and Daniel Hui briefed members on the individual tax incentives and shared their insights on workforce planning in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) with Chamber members at the HKGCC 11 September webinar. They covered issues related to GBA talent policies, workforce planning and tax refund arrangements as well as individual tax planning.

Financial services in the GBA received a further boost recently with a new guideline containing 30 articles, issued by the Mainland government with the aim of promoting the sector. At a Chamber webinar on 3 August, three experts shared their thoughts on the impact of the new guideline and the wider development of financial services across the GBA.

Florence Yip, Asia Pacific Tax Leader Financial Services, Asset & Wealth Management, PwC Hong Kong, shared the findings of a recent PwC report. The survey revealed that the three key elements for companies to succeed in the GBA are talent, data and capital. Dixon Wong, Head of Financial Services at Invest Hong Kong, and Esmond Lee, CEO, Euroclear Bank Hong Kong Branch, also discussed the future direction of the financial services industry in the GBA. Wong said that wealth management, offshore RMB business, ESG investment and fintech are some of the key areas of focus among the opportunities within the sector. Lee noted that Hong Kong's foreign exchange market is an extremely important part of the range of financial services that the city can provide for the GBA.
 

HKGCC, together with KPMG China and HSBC, conducted a third annual Greater Bay Area (GBA) survey in 2019. At a webinar on 7 April entitled "Keys to Success in The Greater Bay Area", Maggie Lee, Partner, Head of Capital Markets Development Group, Hong Kong, KPMG China, and David Harrity, Head of Growth Propositions, Commercial Banking Hong Kong, HSBC, shared the key finding of the survey and their insights on the responses from businesses in Hong Kong and other GBA cities.

Lee noted that 80% of respondents expect the GBA economy to grow faster than rest of China within the next three years. Harrity forecasted that the GDP of GBA might reach US$4.6 trillion by 2030. Claudia Xu, Chief Commercial Officer, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, also joined the discussion and shared how pursuing talent is a priority for the Science Parks in order to best equip Hong Kong to be a world-class talent pool to contribute to the development of the GBA.

China Committee Chairman Petrina Tam, along with Vice Chairmen SH Chan and Edmond Yew, led a delegation to visit Jiangmen and Zhongshan on 19 and 20 September. The purpose of the visit was to give the delegates the opportunity to study the two cities’ smart manufacturing industry. The delegation visited multiple enterprises -- including Lee Kum Kee, Xin Baotang, and Hongrita -- to see the factories’ highly automated and advanced production lines. The visitors also learnt about the latest economic, business and trade developments in Jiangmen and Zhongshan over dinners with Jiangmen Vice Mayor Cai Dewei and Zhongshan Vice Mayor Lei Yuelong. During the mission, members also visited the Jiangmen Wuyi Museum of Overseas Chinese, where they learned more about the history of overseas Chinese around the world since the 19th century.