Policy Address

International Risk Management Centre

99. To encourage the participation of insurance funds in infrastructure financing, the Government will amend the legislation next year to lower capital requirements for infrastructure investment and provide concessions for local projects. We will also promote the development of exclusive captive and reinsurance business in Hong Kong, encouraging the market to introduce more insurance products such as those related to cross-boundary elderly care, cross-boundary driving and low-altitude economy.

International Asset and Wealth Management Centre

100. Hong Kong is expected to become the world's largest cross-boundary wealth management centre in the next few years. Following the launch of Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect 2.0 in February last year, the number of Mainland accounts investing in Hong Kong's wealth products has increased from 25 000 to 110 000.

101. We will further enhance the preferential tax regimes for funds, single family offices and carried interest to attract more funds to establish a presence in Hong Kong. The SFC will actively promote the inclusion of real estate investment trusts (REITs) under mutual market access to increase the liquidity of REITs in the Mainland and Hong Kong. We will also facilitate the enhancement of the Qualified Foreign Limited Partnerships (QFLP) mechanism, in particular by collaborating with Qianhai and Shanghai to attract more foreign capital to the Mainland's private capital market. The HKIC will nurture local private equity and hedge fund institutions with good potential through direct or co-investment.

102. Currently, applicants of the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme are required to invest at least $30 million in Hong Kong. Among such investments, the maximum amount of investment in real estate (both residential and non-residential) to be counted towards the scheme is $10 million. The scheme will be enhanced, raising the maximum amount of investment to be counted from $10 million to $15 million for the purchase of non-residential properties with no transaction price threshold; as for the purchase of residential properties, the investment to be counted will continue to be capped at $10 million, but the transaction price threshold will be lowered from $50 million to $30 million.