Exclusive | Bankers’ summit to ‘anchor’ Hong Kong’s second-half events calendar on popular demand

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The summit is pivoting from the publicity objective of its 2022 inaugural edition to making Hong Kong the venue to discuss issues that affect global banking

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Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR John Lee Ka-chiu (right) and Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during the second Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit at the Four Seasons Hotel in Central on 7 November 2023. Photo: May Tse.

Aileen ChuangandEnoch Yiu

Published: 11:40am, 21 Oct 2024Updated: 9:49am, 22 Oct 2024

Hong Kong’s de facto central bank plans to turn its annual bankers’ summit into an “anchor event” for the world’s financial industry in the second half of every year, as seats for the 2024 edition have been fully reserved a month ahead of its scheduled commencement.

More than 100 chairpersons and CEOs of global banks have confirmed their attendance at the third edition of the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit from November 18 to 20, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The 300-person capacity at the summit’s venue, the Grand Hyatt hotel in Wan Chai, is completely filled, with some financiers remaining on the waiting list, the HKMA said.

The HKMA “is likely to do it every year as the flagship event for Hong Kong,” its chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “We are seeing more satellite events surrounding the summit. It’s good for Hong Kong if we continue to have this to be the anchor for a high-powered finance week.”

The summit is pivoting away from the publicity objective of its 2022 inaugural edition, which aimed to show the world that Hong Kong was “back in business” after emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the summit aims to turn Hong Kong into a venue for debating and discussing the most consequential issues that affect the global financial industry, from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation to climate change and prudential management.

Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, on October 18, 2024. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The summit’s attendees list reads like the who’s who of global finance. Many of them are returning attendees, like Citigroup’s CEO Jane Fraser, Standard Chartered Bank’s CEO Bill Winters and UBS Group’s chairman Colm Kelleher, underscoring their organisations’ commitment to Hong Kong. Some are making the trek to the event for the first time, like BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre, Bank of China chairman Ge Haijiao, HSBC’s CEO Georges Elhedery and the Mitsubishi-UFJ Financial Group chairman Kanetsugu Mike.