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Carrie Leung

Covid-19 may have brought cross-border travel to a standstill, but development of the Greater Bay Area has shown no sign of slowing. China saw a surge of foreign investment in 2021, with 10,263 new foreign-invested companies set up in the first three months of the year.
In addition, 19 Hong Kong banks were given the green light in October to sell investment products in the Greater Bay Area under the Wealth Management Connect scheme.
Such moves to accelerate market integration between Hong Kong and the mainland are good news for the Greater Bay Area, which comprises Hong Kong, Macau, and nine provincial cities in Guangdong.
The goal of making the area the world’s next finance and innovation hub is complicated by the fact that it is spread across three separate customs territories. Even before the pandemic, the different currencies and legal frameworks hindered the flow of capital, technology, and crucially, people.
Encouragingly, the Hong Kong government acknowledged the need to facilitate the flow of talent between Hong Kong and Guangdong in this year’s policy address. We should build on this momentum to overcome existing barriers.




Allowing greater mobility in the Greater Bay Area will benefit Hong Kong’s younger generations by giving them access to a wider range of career paths and entrepreneurial opportunities. They will also be in a position to shape and develop industries in the region, increasing its global appeal in the process.
Once the free flow of talent is established, a rise in demand for cross-border service industries, from cultural to financial, will inevitably follow. Such economic activity will help to unleash the region’s true potential, as well as aid post-pandemic recovery.
Greater Bay Area: Hong Kong youth should grab the opportunities on offer
A key step in this process is the mutual recognition of professional qualifications across the Greater Bay Area, which will ensure workers’ skills are recognised in the places they are most needed. Creating a greater pool of talent can also benefit managers in Hong Kong.
Ultimately, the system would foster reciprocity of human resource policies between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. Guangdong’s free trade zone already has a system of mutual recognition of qualifications in place. The rest of the Greater Bay Area should now follow suit.
Of course, labour mobility must go hand in hand with labour support. Integrating social welfare across the Greater Bay Area, such as by creating more seamless access to health care and education services, is key to encouraging Hong Kong and Macau’s young people to seek employment and start-up opportunities in Guangdong.
Unsurprisingly, the banking and finance sectors also have a vital role to play in the development of the Greater Bay Area. In a jointly published paper, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Association of Banks and the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB) identified a need for talent with a banking knowledge of the Greater Bay Area to support the growth of the sector.

In response, HKIB launched the BEST Certification Programme to support banking sector workers’ understanding of the Greater Bay Area in terms of customer needs, legal requirements, and market operations.
The programme is an example of how Hong Kong can leverage its resources and become a leading force in cross-border education in the future. While the focus for professionals in training and development over the next five years will be on increasing banking knowledge of the Greater Bay Area, data and technology expertise, knowledge of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and soft skills are also important. Only a future-oriented approach will ensure the long-term strength of the industry.
The free flow of talent will be one of the main engines driving the success of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, helping it to lead global commerce and economic development in the post-pandemic era.
Carrie Leung is CEO of The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers


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Greater Bay Area

Greater mobility across Greater Bay Area will open up career paths for Hong Kong’s youth

People head to work in Central on May 3, 2021. Allowing the free flow of talent across the region will mean more opportunities for young people and a swifter post-pandemic recovery. Photo: Felix Wong

Pedestrians walk past a China Merchants Bank Co branch in Guangzhou in March 2014. Finance experts in Hong Kong say more knowledge of banking in the Greater Bay Area is needed. Photo: Bloomberg

Reach out to hearts and minds of young in Hong Kong

Chen Dong, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, speaks with youth in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR

Wealth Management Connect: China’s US$46.5 billion cross-border channel gives Hong Kong a leg up in the Greater Bay Area

Students visiting a booth set up by The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Office (GBA Development Office) at the HKTDC Education & Careers Expo 2021 in Wan Chai on 15 July 2021. Photo: Nora Tam

graphic for online Greater bay area data graphic for online World's major bay area economies San Francisco Bay Area Population 7.6m GDP us$781.2b GDP per capita us$102,230 Source: HKTDC Research New York Metropolitan Area 20.2m us$1,657.5b us$80,050 'Greater Bay Area' 69.6m us$1,5B.4b us$21,750 Tokyo Bay Area 44m us$1,774.2b us$40,360 SCMP

From left, Mr Donald Chen, senior Advisor; Darryl Chan, Executive Director; Edmond Lau, Deputy Chief Executive; Mr Alan Au, Executive Director and Florence To, Head of Banking Conduct of the HK Monetary Authority at the press conference on Cross-boundary Wealth Management; at Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Central.10SEP21 SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

graphic for online global rank competitive score 2020 greater bay area zhaoqing guangzhou dongguan huizhou foshan jiangmen zhongshan shenzhen zhuhai macau hong kong 50km g 11 0.904 0.897 shenzhen hong kong 42 0.831 guangzhou 120 124 147 170 221 283 346 455 0.757 0.756 0.743 0.73 0.709 0.666 0.64 0.609 sources: china national academy of economic strateg, cass, un human settlements programme scmp

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (centre) speaks at the launch ceremony of the Wealth Management Connect on Friday. Photo: Handout

Links such as Wealth Management Connect could keep Greater Bay Area among world’s top 10 economies, experts say

Shenzhen, as seen across Deep Bay from Hong Kong. Both cities are part of the Greater Bay Area. The zone can stay in the top 10 economies globally in the medium and longer term because of the many cross-border financial schemes linking Hong Kong and Macau with mainland China, says a partner at Deloitte. Photo: AFP

HSBC ready to link mainland and Hong Kong customers to new banking opportunities in Greater Bay Area

With a long-established presence in both Hong Kong and Guangdong province, HSBC is ideally positioned to support the upcoming Wealth Management Connect pilot scheme for cross-border investments.

Brian Hui, head of customer propositions, international, and marketing, wealth and personal banking at HSBC Hong Kong, says the bank can draw on various capabilities to provide personalised customer solutions. Photo: SCMP

HSBC is not only the largest bank in Hong Kong, but also the largest international bank in the GBA. Photo: SCMP

Maggie Ng, head of wealth and personal banking at HSBC Hong Kong, says Wealth Management Connect presents major opportunities for growing the bank’s cross-border business. Photo: SCMP

The Greater Bay Area is a dynamic economic region that is home to a large and still-growing affluent class. Photo: Martin Chan

HSBC

Let Hong Kong’s young people help create a Qianhai ‘super zone’

Workers at a construction site in Qianhai, in Shenzhen, on September 8. Unless the Hong Kong government can think out of the box, the Qianhai plan will remain an empty promise. Photo: Xinhua

Opinion


The free flow of talent across the region will depend on steps to enhance the mutual recognition of qualifications and further integrate social welfare, including access to education and health services



The free flow of talent across the region will depend on steps to enhance the mutual recognition of qualifications and further integrate social welfare, including access to education and health services.


Banking & finance

Hong Kong youth

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)
