'Hong Kong an attractive place for family offices'

Accounting firm Deloitte said on Monday it is confident that the SAR will easily achieve its goal of attracting at least 200 family offices by the end of 2025.Speaking to reporters at a media briefing, Deloitte China’s vice chair Patrick Yip noted that there has been growing interest in family offices – or private wealth management companies for the very wealthy – since Hong Kong introduced tax waivers for the sector last year.He noted that about 30 family offices have signed deals with their department alone.“Some of them are local ones with ‘old money’, meaning they are Hong Kong families, some of these are new Hong Kong families from mainland China or Southeast Asia. Most of them are ethnic Chinese,” said Yip, adding that there are also some from the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.Yip's remarks came after the firm published a study which estimated there to be 2,703 single-family offices in the SAR as of December last year.He pointed out that the estimate was quite “conservative”, as it did not include multi-family offices, nor did it count those which are from overseas but have also invested in the territory.“The actual total number of family offices in Hong Kong could be much higher,” Yip said of the results of the report, which was conducted in collaboration with the government’s FamilyOfficeHK.Yip added that he believes the official target of attracting at least 200 new family offices by the end of next year could be achieved much earlier.Authorities had said there were over 12,500 ultra high net-worth individuals in the city as of the end of 2022, and total wealth managed in the territory had reached HK$30.5 trillion.

2024-03-18 20:47:29

HK to promote Muslim-friendly travel: Tourism Board

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) on Monday said it hopes to promote the SAR as a Muslim-friendly travel destination by working with the sector to strengthen the city's infrastructure.The authorities announced that the SAR received 7.8 million visitors in January and February, which was about 70 percent of the same period in 2018.The HKTB said Hong Kong's flight capacity has been increasing, leading to a boost in tourist numbers, with many of them coming from the mainland or Southeast Asian countries.It said it will boost promotion in different source markets, including shaping Hong Kong as a Muslim-friendly travel destination.The executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, Timothy Chui, said the sector has to do a lot, especially in terms of dining preparations for Muslim tourists. He added that some may require having pork-free menus or eating at halal-certified restaurants.It comes as Muslims in Hong Kong and around the world are currently into the second week of observing the holy month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, the government earlier also announced plans to have monthly pyrotechnic and drone displays along Victoria Harbour from May.A dining group director, William Lam, said he hopes the authorities can announce the details soon, so travellers and related sectors can plan ahead.The Tourism Board expects 46 million tourists to visit Hong Kong in the year, about a 35 percent increase from 2023.

2024-03-18 20:24:33

President Xi congratulates Putin on re-election

President Xi Jinping congratulated Vladimir Putin on Monday, telling his Russian counterpart his re-election "fully reflects the support of the Russian people", state media reported."In recent years, the Russian people have united as one to overcome challenges," Xi said. "I believe that under your leadership, Russia will be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction."Earlier, the Foreign Ministry said "China and Russia are each other's largest neighbours and comprehensive strategic cooperative partners in the new era."With 99 percent of polling stations having submitted results, Putin had secured 87.33 percent of all votes cast, official election data showed on Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA. (Reporting by Xinhua)

2024-03-18 18:15:18

Refund details announced a month after Messi no-show

The organiser of Inter Miami's exhibition match in Hong Kong, Tatler Asia, on Monday announced that fans who bought tickets through official channels would get half their money back if they reply to emails before mid-April. It said people who purchased tickets for the February 4 match through the ticketing platform Klook would receive an email from Monday. They would then have until April 12 to respond and accept the terms and conditions of the refund. Details on the partial ticket refunds were announced more than a month after Argentina football star Lionel Messi failed to play in the game and sparked a public outcry. Lawmaker Johnny Ng, who was at the game at the Hong Kong Stadium, said the organiser should also consider fans who bought tickets through third party websites. "There are a number of people that purchase the tickets not directly through Klook, the official distributors. Some of them may have bought the tickets from third parties, like through social media or some auction platforms... So those people cannot get the reply email from Klook officially," he told RTHK."They can only chase the money from the people they have purchased the products from. So I think this will [create] some issues. Maybe a large portion of people cannot get the refund." Lawmaker Doreen Kong echoed his views, adding that she thinks the announcement for a refund arrangement hasn't been swift enough. She said the organiser had to make sure that overseas fans have access to terms and conditions of the refund.

2024-03-18 17:43:15 (1)

Positive China data lifts HK stocks

Hong Kong stocks closed slightly higher on Monday, boosted by data that showed China's factory output and retail sales had beaten expectations in the January-February period, although indicators on the mainland property market continued to disappoint.The Hang Seng Index closed 0.1 percent higher to end the day at 16,737. Investors were also looking ahead to the outcome of meetings of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve later this week which could see the end of free money in Japan and a slower glide path for US rate cuts. (Agencies)

2024-03-18 16:40:58 (1)

Cathay pledges smooth operations over Easter

The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) on Monday criticised Cathay Pacific for a lack of experience and digital capabilities in forecasting crew resources, which led to major flight cancellations over Christmas and New Year. Cathay Pacific said it had since improved its organisation and resource planning systems and assured the government that it wouldn't face similar cancellations over the upcoming Easter holidays. The airline cancelled nearly 800 flights in December and January, sparking public anger and a government order for a report into its operations."Cathay Pacific Airways' report revealed that the flight cancellations were contributed by a number of factors, including its internal planning issues and under-estimation of pilot reserve levels which indicated its ineffective crew planning process," the CAD told Legco economic development panel. In the report, the airline admitted that it didn't keep detailed records of pilots' flying hours and underestimated the number of replacement pilots it needed to cover those who called in sick.The airline said it was aware that there was a legal limit which stated that pilots could not fly more than 900 hours in a year, but it had not previously tracked this in detail. "The 900 block hour annual limit is a published legal limit that protects against fatigue, and one which Cathay Pacific is fully aware of, however, it had not previously been a significant impediment to the operation and, as such, it was not tracked to the level of detail that has now become necessary," the airline said in the report. To address this, the airline said it had implemented digital solutions to improve planning. Meanwhile, the government also advised Cathay Pacific to support Hong Kong's strategic development by exploring new destinations on the mainland, in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

2024-03-18 13:57:47 (1)

Second reading of Article 23 to resume on Tuesday

The Legislative Council will convene a full meeting on Tuesday to resume the second reading of a bill on proposed national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.Legco President Andrew Leung said he fully supports the council to complete the legislative process as soon as possible.A Legco spokesperson said Leung decided to convene the special meeting at 9am on Tuesday in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, based on the necessity and urgency of the bill.No other matters will be dealt with at the meeting.Leung has waived a notice requirement before the second reading of the bill can resume and amendments to the bill can be proposed. After a bills committee finished its scrutiny last week, the government asked Legco to expedite the vetting by waiving the customary 10-day pause.A regular council meeting will be held as scheduled on Wednesday.

2024-03-18 13:32:53

'West Kowloon arts hub may raise rents, ticket prices'

The chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority on Monday said it would consider raising ticket prices and venue rents to boost its income amid a financial shortfall. In an interview with the Ming Pao newspaper, Henry Tang said he hopes the arts hub could solve its funding crisis by itself without adding more strain to the public coffers.The authority is awaiting a government decision on a proposed funding plan that involves selling part of the district's 40 hectares of land. But Tang said the land sale would only start from 2026 if the proposal is approved, adding that the cultural hub would not sell all of its land holdings. Meanwhile, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee member said the central government had responded positively to his proposal for a co-location immigration arrangement at Chep Lap Kok airport, which would allow travellers to have their documents checked by both Hong Kong and mainland immigration officers in one terminus. Tang said the airport's capacity would increase by more than 50 percent with the completion of the third runway, adding that the high-speed rail's co-location model could be adopted at the airport.

2024-03-18 12:54:23 (1)

China factory output, retail sales beat expectations

China's factory output and retail sales beat expectations in the January-February period, marking a solid start for 2024 and offering some relief to policymakers even as weakness in the property sector remains a drag on the economy and confidence.Industrial output rose 7 percent in the first two months of the year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, above expectations for a 5 percent increase in a Reuters poll of analysts and faster than the 6.8 percent growth seen in December.It also marked the quickest growth in almost two years.Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose 5.5 percent, slowing from a 7.4 percent increase in December. Analysts had expected retail sales to grow 5.2 percent.The housing market saw slower declines in property investment and sales, buoyed by government efforts to arrest a downturn in the sector.Property investment fell 9 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2024, compared with a 24 percent fall in December 2023, NBS data showed.Property sales by floor area logged a 20.5 percent slide, compared with a 23 percent fall in December last year.Hwabao Trust economist Nie Wen said real estate remains in a downtrend, and that a smaller slowdown in investment is unlikely to change that with developers still struggling for cash flow."But the phase when property had the greatest negative impact on the economy should have passed, and it needs to be seen when the sector will bottom out," Nie said.Fixed asset investment, meanwhile, expanded 4.2 percent year on year, versus expectations for a 3.2 percent rise. It grew 3 percent in the whole of 2023.Notably, private investment grew 0.4 percent in the first two months, reversing the decline of 0.4 percent in the whole year of 2023.The urban unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in the January-February period, with the NBS describing the employment situation as generally stable.The jobless rate for 16-24 years old, excluding university students, was 14.6 percent in January, down from 14.9 percent in December.Together with better-than-expected trade data and consumer inflation, Monday's indicators will provide some temporary encouragement for policymakers as they try to shore up growth in the world's second-largest economy to keep it on track for an expansion of around 5 percent this year.But analysts say achieving such growth would be more challenging than last year, which had a lower base effect. (Reuters, additional reporting by Xinhua)

2024-03-18 12:50:54 (1)

Centralised eMPF platform to launch in June

The Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Authority on Monday said it would launch a centralised digital platform in June for citizens to manage their MPF accounts.The eMPF platform would replace the 12 existing ones operated by individual companies. The authority's chairperson, Ayesha Lau, said the one-stop-shop would make MPF account management easier. She told a Legco meeting that the administrative fee would also be cheaper.Lau said they would transfer MPF account data from the management companies in phases."We expect that the first trustee will be able to transfer the data of its MPF accounts to the platform in June," Lau said. "There are many MPF accounts and the information is sensitive, so we are adopting the most stringent criteria to arrange for the transfer. To be prudent, we will migrate the data in batches from the trustees' systems to the platform in ascending order of the assets under management."Lau said the authority would aim to transfer the data of all 11 million MPF accounts to the platform by the end of next year.Meanwhile, she said the MPF offsetting mechanism would be cancelled in May 2025 as planned, meaning that employers would no longer be able to use their mandatory contributions to workers' accounts to make redundancy and long service payments.At the meeting, lawmaker Johnny Ng asked if the authority could provide more diverse investment options, like products related to the Belt and Road Initiative or virtual assets.Lau said the authority has been working to provide more investment choices, and would liaise with the Monetary Authority to look into giving MPF members the priority to purchase some of the infrastructure bonds the government issues in future.

2024-03-18 12:39:32 (2)