Month: June 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan attended the 2025 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai today and witnessed the signing of the Action Plan for Collaborative Development of Shanghai & Hong Kong International Financial Centres.

 

Mr Chan, as one of the key guests, took part in the forum’s opening ceremony and morning plenary session. 

 

Themed “Financial Opening-Up & Cooperation for High-Quality Development in a Changing Global Economy”, the forum was jointly organised by the Shanghai Municipal Government, the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

 

Government officials, financial regulators, industry leaders, renowned think tanks and scholars from multiple countries participated in the forum to discuss topics such as global monetary policy, capital market development, financial technology and innovation, and inclusive finance.

 

Before the opening ceremony, Mr Chan and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government Executive Vice Mayor Wu Wei jointly witnessed the signing of the action plan.

 

It was signed by Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui and Shanghai Office for Advancing International Financial Center Development Director-General Zhou Xiaoquan, who is also Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau Director.

 

The action plan covers six areas with a total of 38 measures, including deepening the interconnectivity between Mainland and Hong Kong financial markets, enhancing the linkage and co-operation of the two places’ capital markets, supporting eligible Shanghai enterprises to list and raise funds in Hong Kong, and strengthening collaboration in areas such as commodity trading, reinsurance, green finance and fintech.

 

The plan aims to further leverage the financial opening up, development and risk management advantages of the two cities, enhance cross-boundary and offshore financial co-operation, and promote the co-ordinated development of the two international financial centres.

 

In his speech at the ceremony, Mr Chan explained that the action plan further specifies the directions of co-operation between Hong Kong and Shanghai, thereby injecting new and richer content into multi-level and multi-field financial collaboration.

 

Furthermore, he noted that it includes new measures to deepen financial interconnectivity, highlights support for Mainland enterprises to go global, and promotes standard alignment and financial innovation.

 

Mr Chan added that with strong support from the country, Hong Kong and Shanghai will join forces to create greater synergy and collaborative benefits, thus making greater contributions to the country’s development as a financial powerhouse.

 

Upon arriving in Shanghai yesterday, the Financial Secretary attended an international exchange dinner hosted by the China Finance 40 Forum where he shared how Hong Kong is striving to promote high-quality financial development amid global political and economic changes.

 

Mr Chan departed for Hong Kong around noon today.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Government has welcomed the Legislative Council’s passage today of the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2025, which revises the continuous contract requirement under the Employment Ordinance, making it easier for employees to enjoy comprehensive employment rights.

Under the revised requirement, the weekly working hours threshold will be lowered from 18 hours to 17 hours. Moreover, a week involving less than 17 working hours will still be regarded as a continuous employment period if the sum of the working hours of that week and those of the three weeks immediately preceding it reaches 68.

The Government outlined that the amendment introduces flexibility in the calculation of working hours, reducing the likelihood of the continuity of workers’ employment being disrupted due to working hours occasionally fall below the threshold.

Other provisions of the ordinance will continue to operate as they have been, and existing eligibility criteria for employees to enjoy various statutory benefits will remain unchanged.

The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 will be published in the Government Gazette next Friday. The revised continuous contract requirement will be effective from January 18, 2026.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The 2025-26 HYAB Funding Scheme for Youth Exchange in the Mainland is open for the second round of applications until July 10, the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau announced today.

Eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are invited to submit applications.

Through the funding scheme, the bureau and the Youth Development Commission provide funding for NGOs to organise exchange projects on the Mainland for Hong Kong young people to learn and understand the country’s development, foster exchanges with Mainland people and strengthen their sense of national identity.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Shiu Ka-fai and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):

Question:

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, attended the 2025 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai today (June 18) and witnessed the signing of the Action Plan for Collaborative Development of Shanghai and Hong Kong International Financial Centres.
 
     The Lujiazui Forum is an international high-level dialogue platform that discusses major issues in the financial sector. This year, the forum was jointly organised by the Shanghai Municipal Government, the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Themed “Financial Opening-Up and Cooperation for High-Quality Development in a Changing Global Economy”, the forum has brought together government officials, financial regulators, industry leaders, renowned think tanks and scholars from multiple countries to discuss topics such as global monetary policy, capital market development, financial technology and innovation, and inclusive finance. The plenary session this afternoon will include a session on deepening the co-operation and development of Shanghai and Hong Kong as international financial centres. 
 
     Mr Chan, as one of the key guests, attended the forum’s opening ceremony and morning plenary session. 
 
     Before the opening ceremony, Mr Chan and the Executive Vice Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, Mr Wu Wei, jointly witnessed the signing of the Action Plan for Collaborative Development of Shanghai and Hong Kong International Financial Centres, by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, and the Director-General of the Shanghai Office for Advancing International Financial Center Development and Director of the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Mr Zhou Xiaoquan.
 
     The Action Plan covers six areas with a total of 38 measures, including deepening the interconnectivity between Mainland and Hong Kong financial markets, enhancing the linkage and co-operation of the two places’ capital markets, supporting eligible Shanghai enterprises to list and raise funds in Hong Kong, and strengthening collaboration in areas such as commodity trading, reinsurance, green finance and fintech. The aim is to further leverage the financial opening up, development and risk management advantages of the two cities, enhance cross-boundary and offshore financial co-operation, and promote the co-ordinated development of the two international financial centres. 
 
     In his speech at the ceremony, Mr Chan said that the Action Plan further specifies the directions of co-operation between Hong Kong and Shanghai, thereby injecting new and richer content into multi-level and multi-field financial collaboration. It includes, first, new measures to deepen financial interconnectivity; second, highlighting support for Mainland enterprises to go global; and third, promoting standard alignment and financial innovation. With strong support from the country, Hong Kong and Shanghai, as two international financial centres, will join forces to create greater synergy and collaborative benefits, thus making greater contributions to the country’s development as a financial powerhouse while also injecting Chinese wisdom and strength into the development of the global financial market. 
 
     Yesterday (June 17), upon arriving in Shanghai, Mr Chan attended an international exchange dinner hosted by the China Finance 40 Forum. Attendees included leaders from domestic and international financial institutions, regulatory bodies, think tanks and academia. At the dinner, Mr Chan shared how Hong Kong is striving to promote high-quality financial development amid global political and economic changes. This includes advancing financial market reforms to better attract global capital to support the development of the real economy, supporting the prudent advancement of Renminbi internationalisation, embracing financial innovation including digital assets, and providing comprehensive, high value-added services for Mainland enterprises’ international development. The goal is to better contribute to the country’s financial reform and high-level opening up while creating opportunities for global investors and businesses. 
 
     Mr Chan departed for Hong Kong around noon today.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Elizabeth Quat and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
 
Question:
 
     According to government information, 15 000-odd public rental housing (PRH) units were recovered by the Housing Department for various reasons in 2023, which was 55 per cent more than the annual number of about 10 000 units in the past. Regarding the recovery of PRH units and the Well-off Tenants Policies, will the Government inform this Council of the following information in the past five financial years:
 
(1) the number of PRH units recovered each year for the following reasons:
(i) death of principal tenants or principal tenants being admitted to residential care homes;
(ii) principal tenants having purchased subsidised sale flats;
(iii) tenants moving out due to breach of tenancy agreements (e.g. ‍accruing 16 points within two years under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement or defaulting on rent payment);
(iv) tenants moving out due to failure or refusal to return the declaration form on income and assets as required;
(v) tenants moving out as their family income/total household net asset value exceeded the limits prescribed under the Well-off Tenants Policies;
(vi) tenants were asked to move out as their household members owned domestic properties in Hong Kong;
(vii) voluntary surrender of units by tenants (including moving to other regions/countries, moving to other residences, or for unknown reasons);
(viii) tenants moving out upon application for transfer; and
(ix) other reasons;
 
(2) the number of recovered PRH units used for allocation to applicants on the PRH Waiting List each year;
 
(3) the number of Notices-to-quit (NTQs) issued by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) to PRH tenants each year and, among them, the number of tenants who lodged appeals in this regard, together with a breakdown by the outcome of the appeals (e.g. ‍cancellation of NTQs, amendment of NTQs and setting of conditions for the tenants lodging appeals to rectify the violations, as well as unsuccessful appeals);
 
(4) the number of cases received by the HA in which applications for granting of new tenancy agreements were made by authorised members of the units due to the death or moving out of the original principle tenants and, among such cases, the number of those which were approved and rejected; among the approved cases, the number of those in which the PRH units involved were granted approval for addition of household members to the tenancy in the past three years;
 
(5) the number of PRH tenants who had successfully applied for deletion of household members from the tenancy each year and, among them, the number of those who were well-off tenants; and
 
(6) the respective numbers of PRH tenants who were required under the Well-off Tenants Policies to pay (i) 1.5 times net rent plus rates and (ii) double net rent plus rates each year?
 
Reply:

President,
 
     In response to the questions raised by the Hon Elizabeth Quat, our reply is as follows:

(1) In the past five financial years (i.e. 2020/21 to 2024/25), the numbers of public rental housing (PRH) units recovered by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), categorised by reasons for recovery, are listed in Annex 1.
 
(2) Based on the established allocation policies and programmes, the HA allocates newly completed and refurbished recovered PRH units to meet the needs of applicants under various categories. We will allocate most of the units to PRH applicants and closely monitor the actual allocation figures of other categories (e.g. Compassionate Rehousing) to ensure that any units in excess of the estimated demand under other categories would be allocated to PRH applicants by the end of the year. In the past five financial years, the actual numbers of recovered PRH units allocated to PRH applicants and applicants under other categories are tabulated in Annex 2.
 
(3) In the past five financial years, the numbers of Notices-to-quit issued by the HA, the numbers of appeal cases received by the Appeal Panel (Housing), and the numbers of appeal cases heard by the Appeal Panel (Housing) as well as the rulings are set out by category in Annex 3.
 
(4) According to the HA’s existing Policy on Grant of New Tenancy (GNT), upon the death or moving out of the principal tenant of a PRH unit, the tenancy can be granted to his/her spouse who has been listed in the tenancy. If there is no surviving spouse listed in the tenancy, one of the authorised family members currently living in the unit can be granted a new tenancy, provided that the Comprehensive Means Test and Domestic Property Test set at the level of Well-off Tenants Policies are passed. In the past five financial years, there were approximately 32 000 GNT cases approved upon the death or moving out of the original principal tenant. The Housing Department (HD) does not keep statistics on the number of rejected applications for GNT and the number of approved GNT cases which involved addition of household members.
 
(5) In the past five financial years, the HA approved an average of about 44 000 cases per year on the deletion of family members from PRH tenancies. Among these cases, around 16 700 cases arose from death or admission to elderly homes, while the remaining of about 27 300 cases resulted from moving out or other reasons. The HD does not keep statistics on the number of aforesaid cases which involved “well-off tenants”.
 
(6) In the past five financial years, the numbers of PRH tenants under the HA required to pay 1.5 or double net rent plus rates are listed in Annex 4.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Duncan Chiu and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):

Question:

     In recent years, the HKSAR Government has adopted diversified measures to actively combat telephone fraud, including introducing the Real-name Registration Programme for Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Cards (RNR Programme) and the Hong Kong Police Force’s “Scameter+” and requiring local telecommunications service providers (TSPs) to play a voice alert message for calls made from newly activated pre-paid SIM (PPS) cards and block suspicious calls, as well as strengthening co-operation with Mainland and international law enforcement agencies. However, there are views pointing out that local telephone fraud cases have not shown a decreasing trend, causing inconvenience and disturbance to the public in their daily lives. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of telephone fraud cases received by the Police from January to May this year, as well as the amount of money involved in such cases, the number of victims and their age distribution;

(2) of the total number of PPS cards which have been rejected as the clients failed to provide information in compliance with the registration requirements since the introduction of the RNR Programme; the total number of the registration records of non-compliant PPS cards which have been cancelled by the TSPs, together with a breakdown and percentage by reason for non-compliance;

(3) whether it has estimated the number of registered PPS cards resold in the market under the RNR Programme; of the authorities’ countermeasures currently in place against the resale practice concerned, and how they follow up cases of members of the public purchasing and using PPS cards that have long been registered by other persons;

(4) as the 2024 Policy Address has mentioned that the Government would introduce a legislative amendment proposal into this Council to prohibit the resale of registered SIM cards with a view to further enhancing the RNR Programme, of the latest progress of such work and the legislative timetable;

(5) of the accumulated downloads of “Scameter+” since its launch by the Police in February 2023 and the respective numbers of call alerts issued to users and local and non-local suspicious telephone numbers which the TSPs have been required to block; of the details and outcome of the Police’s follow-up actions in respect of such suspicious and blocked telephone numbers; and

(6) whether it has comprehensively reviewed the effectiveness of the various measures introduced by the Government to combat telephone fraud; if so, of the results, and the measures in place to cope with the situation where the number of telephone fraud cases has not decreased, including whether it will adjust the existing overall strategy for combating telephone fraud, as well as introduce relevant enhancement measures and new measures?

Reply:

President,

     The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) has been devising and implementing a series of preventive measures from the perspective of telecommunications services to assist the Hong Kong Police Force (Police) in combating phone deception at the source. In response to the question raised by the Hon Duncan Chiu, having consulted the Security Bureau, OFCA and the Police, our consolidated reply is as follows:

     The Real-name Registration Programme for SIM Cards (RNR Programme) has been fully implemented since February 2023, requiring that all SIM cards issued and used locally (including SIM service plans and pre-paid SIM cards (PPS cards)) must complete real-name registration before service activation. Under the RNR Programme, OFCA has requested telecommunications service providers (TSPs) to conduct regular sampling checks on registered SIM card information, to step up verification of suspicious cases, and to refer cases suspected of violating the law to the Police for handling. If the users subject to sample checks are unable to verify their registered information in accordance with the instructions of the respective TSPs, the relevant PPS cards will be deregistered and cannot be used thereafter. As at end-April this year, around 4.71 million PPS cards were rejected for registration as the clients failed to provide information in compliance with the registration requirements (including cases where registration was done using a copy of an identity document and the information provided was inconsistent with the identity document, etc). Besides, the registration records of about 3.4 million non-compliant PPS cards have been deregistered (including cases where users failed to verify their identities as required during the TSPs’ sampling checks and were suspected of using forged documents for registration, etc). According to the information provided by the TSPs, the majority of deregistration was due to users failing to submit required identity documents for verification as required. OFCA does not maintain information on specific reasons for deregistration by breakdown.

     To enhance the effective implementation of the RNR Programme, OFCA has required the TSPs to adopt “iAM Smart” as the default registration method for Hong Kong identity card (HKID) holders. For non-HKID holders, their real-name registration information will be manually verified. Currently, provision of false information and/or false documents under the RNR Programme may constitute a criminal offence. OFCA does not maintain information on the resale of registered PPS cards in the market.

     In addition, the Police launched the mobile application “Scameter+” in February 2023 to help members of the public distinguish suspicious online platform accounts, payment accounts, phone numbers, email addresses, websites, etc, and to provide the public with anti-fraud tips. As at end-April this year, “Scameter+” had recorded over 960 000 downloads, 8.4 million searches in its search engine and 1 million alerts issued to members of the public. “Scameter+” has now been upgraded and is equipped with automatic detection functions. The Call Alert function and the Website Detection function within the mobile application will automatically identify scam calls and fraudulent websites. If potential fraud or cyber security risk is detected, “Scameter+” will issue a real-time notification, reminding users not to answer the call or browse the website. As at end-April this year, “Scameter+” had issued over 800 000 warnings about suspicious calls and websites to the public through its automatic function. Under OFCA’s co-ordination, the Police and major TSPs have established a mechanism where the TSPs will, based on the fraud records provided by the Police, block the telephone numbers suspected to be involved in deception cases and intercept suspicious website links as soon as possible. As at end-April this year, more than 50 000 website links and about 9 000 local and non-local phone numbers have been successfully blocked. The Police will also actively investigate cases related to these suspected scam phone numbers.

     Apart from the above-mentioned measures, OFCA has also required the TSPs to intercept suspicious calls starting with “+852”, send voice alerts or text messages to all mobile users for overseas calls prefixed with “+852”, and play voice alerts for newly activated PPS cards, as well as has launched the SMS Sender Registration Scheme to assist members of public in distinguishing the identity of the SMS senders. OFCA has also been conducting continuous market surveillance and strengthening publicity activities, as well as has launched the District Anti-Phone Deception Ambassador Scheme in January this year, appointing over 300 District Council members and staff members of their ward offices as District Anti-Phone Deception Ambassadors. Starting from May this year, OFCA has collaborated with District Anti-Phone Deception Ambassadors through community activities to further promote anti-scam messages.

     For telephone deception trends, the Police recorded a total of 1 816 telephone deception cases between January and April this year, averaging 454 cases per month and representing a significant 52.3 per cent decrease compared to the monthly average of 951 cases in the fourth quarter of 2024. The financial losses associated amounted to approximately HK$320 million, involving a total of 1 759 victims aged between 15 and 97. For telephone deception cases involving impersonation of customer service emerged since early last year, after focused enforcement efforts by the Police, the monthly average for the first four months this year dropped to approximately 190 cases, recording a decrease of over 80 per cent from the peak of about 1 110 cases in July 2024. These trends highlight the effectiveness of measures implemented by the Government in combating phone deception.

     The Government will continue to adopt a multi-pronged approach to combat phone deception and protect the interests of the public. Regarding anti-phone deception measures and the RNR Programme, with reference to the overall implementation experience and the Police’s provision of scam trends on criminal groups using PPS cards, the Government is reviewing the implementation effectiveness of relevant measures and overall operation of the RNR Programme, including reviewing the limit on the number of PPS cards, the arrangement for prohibiting the sale of registered SIM cards or using information of others to conduct real-name registration for profit making, etc. The Government aims to consult relevant Legislative Council Panel within this year.