Hong Kong set to host finance event next month

Forum to champion multilateral cooperation, setting the tone for development direction

Hong Kong is gearing up to host the 17th Asian Financial Forum 2024 (AFF), the first major international financial and business event of the year, aimed at highlighting the city’s significance as an international financial centre.

The event, to be held from January 24 to 25, will bring together more than 100 global policymakers and business leaders as speakers, with more than 3,000 participants from around the world, according to the organiser, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).

The keynote speakers will include Professor Douglas Diamond, the Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences for 2022, from the University of Chicago, and Prof Jeffrey Sachs, the president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Other notable figures such as Bob Price, co-chief investment officer for Bridgewater Associates, Rene Buehlmann, chief executive of investments at Abrdn, and Janet Perumal, director of investments, Asia at Wellington Management, will be among the speakers at “CIO Insights”, a newly introduced session at the AFF, together with financier Fang Fenglei, founder of private equity firm Hopu Investment. Fang will speak at the China’s New Chapter session.

The AFF would feature a deal-making session, giving investors and project owners ample time to connect and explore potential collaborations, said Patrick Lau, HKTDC’s deputy executive director.

Luanne Lim, chief executive of HSBC Hong Kong and chairwoman of the AFF steering committee, emphasised the importance of multilateral cooperation in the financial services industry.

The event’s theme, “Multilateral Cooperation for Shared Tomorrow”, would set the tone for the finance world’s development direction, Lim said.

A major topic of discussion at the event will be the development of family offices.

Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, chief executive of New World Development, will speak in a closed-door meeting with major family offices during the event.

Elsewhere, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po highlighted the significance of positioning the city as a green finance hub.

“There was over US$80 billion in green and sustainable debt issued in Hong Kong last year,” he said at a Chinese Financial Association of Hong Kong event yesterday.