First, the great development of Hong Kong's economy in the 1960s laid the foundation for Hong Kong's export-oriented economic model, and the development of trade greatly stimulated foreign exchange transactions, thus becoming an opportunity for the development of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market.
After World War II, Hong Kong implemented foreign exchange control to restrict the free entry and exit of gold. Therefore, in the early 1950s, Hong Kong was only an entrepot. In the mid-1950s, some mainland manufacturers who moved to Hong Kong established cotton spinning industry and light industry, which made the export of textile products in Hong Kong account for 70% of the total export at the end of 1950s. The 1960s was a period of great industrial development in Hong Kong. The manufacturing industry has increased from more than 5,800 to more than14,000, and pillar industries such as textiles, clothing, watches and clocks, plastics, electronics and toys have been established, making Hong Kong an export-oriented light industry production city. The vigorous development of foreign trade has promoted the development of foreign exchange transactions related to commodity trade. The foreign exchange trading market has gradually developed independently of trade.
Second, the policy of relaxing foreign exchange control is a decisive factor in the development of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market.
Hong Kong's foreign exchange market became active in the 1970s after HK$ 1972 was decoupled from the British pound, and became an important foreign exchange trading center in the Asia-Pacific region.
Before 1 973 65438+1October1,the Hong Kong government had been controlling foreign exchange according to the financial protection regulations of 1939. It can be said that there was no real foreign exchange market. At that time, Hong Kong actually had a dual foreign exchange market. One is the legal foreign exchange market, where designated foreign exchange banks chartered by the British Hong Kong authorities engage in foreign exchange transactions, and the exchange rate is roughly the legal parity; Secondly, it is a free foreign exchange market, and the participants are mainly non-designated banks and other businessmen. The exchange rate of this market is completely determined by supply and demand. For the currency of foreign exchange transactions, the British Hong Kong authorities have formal restrictions on the pound, but acquiesce in the existence of free trading of foreign currencies such as the US dollar. Starting from 1973, after the Hong Kong government abolished the foreign exchange control, the legal market and the free market merged, forming the embryonic form of today's foreign exchange market. After that, the Hong Kong dollar floated freely at 1974, and its use in international trade settlement increased, making Hong Kong a regional foreign exchange trading center in East and Southeast Asia.
Third, a convenient time zone is a natural advantage for the development of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market. Hong Kong's time zone is after Sydney and before London and new york. This special time zone is an important link between the Asia-Pacific market and the European and American markets.
Fourth, a stable financial system and experienced market participants are the basic factors for the development of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market.
Financial institutions in Hong Kong can be divided into two categories, one is commercial banks, the other is finance companies or deposit-taking companies. Financial companies are divided into licensed financial companies and registered financial companies. As far as 1986 is concerned, there are 15 1 commercial banks and 3 15 financial companies in Hong Kong. In addition, there are 13 1 representative offices of foreign banks, 1 large unified stock exchanges, and three unique gold markets, namely, chinese gold and silver exchange society, Hongkong International London Gold Market and Gold Commodity Futures Market. Among the commercial banks, there are 104 foreign banks except local Chinese banks and China Bank Group, including 22 American banks, 3 Japanese banks, 8 British banks, 7 French banks, 6 Canadian banks, and the rest are banks from developing countries and other western countries. At present, the number of foreign banking institutions in Hong Kong is second only to London and new york. Corresponding to the number of institutions, the scale of funds and total deposits of financial institutions have increased rapidly, forming a huge financial system, which has enabled a considerable number of funds and market participants to participate in the foreign exchange market, which is conducive to the development of the foreign exchange market in breadth.
Hong Kong's foreign exchange market has all kinds of modern communication facilities, and terminal systems are very popular throughout Hong Kong. The Hong Kong market has a large number of smart and pragmatic financial and insurance professionals, some of whom have participated in the operation of the foreign exchange market for a long time and accumulated rich experience, thus ensuring the healthy and stable operation of the foreign exchange market in Hong Kong.
Fifth, the Hong Kong authorities' unremitting efforts in managing and promoting the development of the foreign exchange market and their low tax rate policy are indispensable factors for the development of the foreign exchange market in Hong Kong.
Following 1973' s deregulation of foreign exchange, 1974' s Hong Kong Monetary Authority opened the gold market, 1978' s relaxation of restrictions on foreign banks opening branches in Hong Kong, 1980' s establishment of a gold commodity futures market, 1982' s approval of the establishment of a financial futures market,1982.
The development of the foreign exchange market takes time, and a factor that breeds the market is a prudent regulatory framework. To this end, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has been exploring market development. In order to control the foreign exchange risk of banks, HKMA requires banks to fill in and submit returns to monitor the foreign exchange risk of banks. 1992 the foreign exchange and money market operation Committee was established in early 1992 to formulate the "best market behavior" criteria. The scope of work of the Committee includes formulating and recommending market standards and general market codes. Although the Committee is not a statutory body and has no legal enforcement effect, it provides objective and fair opinions for the correct behavior of foreign exchange market peers and makes the market self-discipline system more perfect.
In addition, the low tax rate policy pursued by the Hong Kong government for a long time has played an important role in promoting the development of the foreign exchange market.
Two. The development prospect of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market
Hong Kong's foreign exchange market has grown from scratch in the past two decades and has become an important part of the world's foreign exchange market today. However, since the 1980s, some remarkable changes have taken place in the development of world finance, one of which is that Singapore has gradually become a new international financial center in the Asia-Pacific region, and in many aspects it is showing a trend of surpassing or about to surpass Hong Kong. In terms of foreign exchange transactions, since 1982, Singapore has surpassed Hong Kong to rank fifth in the world, and in recent years it has even surpassed Switzerland to rank fourth in the world.
With Singapore becoming a new international financial market, Singapore's foreign exchange market developed in 1970s. Due to the expansion of multinational companies in Asia in the 1960s, new capital needs emerged, and some Asian countries and enterprises fled to safe havens because of social unrest. Therefore, some international banks hope to set up overseas dollar loan centers in the Asia-Pacific region in order to allocate funds more flexibly. At that time, the Japanese and Hong Kong authorities were unwilling to open the overseas currency trading market and trade freely in the market. In addition, in order to expand the business scope of the market, the Singapore government also approved the establishment of business cooperation between the Singapore International Financial Futures Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to link futures. In this way, Singapore can provide futures trading of gold, Eurodollar and Japanese yen to all parts of the world, and at the same time fill the idle time when Singapore and Chicago are closed for 14 hours every day, thus ensuring that the trading activities between the two places have been going on 24 hours. As an important part of Singapore's financial market, the foreign exchange market has also developed rapidly.
The development of Singapore's foreign exchange market has caught up with and surpassed that of Hong Kong, and the position of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market as the most important foreign exchange market in the Asia-Pacific region has been replaced by Singapore. But this does not mean that Hong Kong's foreign exchange market has lost its competitiveness. In fact, although the volume of foreign exchange transactions in Hong Kong has fallen far behind Tokyo and Singapore, and the development of Hong Kong's foreign exchange market is increasingly threatened by high operating costs (including salaries and rents), and immigrants are worried about the future of Hong Kong after its return to China, the foreign exchange market in Hong Kong still has advantages. Its unique charm lies in its central position in the economically prosperous Asia-Pacific region and its back to the mainland. Due to the huge potential of China market, a large amount of capital flows to this region. As the entrepot of China, compared with other international financial centers, a large amount of foreign exchange demand generates more foreign exchange transactions, and the proportion of foreign exchange speculation is relatively small, which is conducive to the stable development of the foreign exchange market. At present, Hong Kong is in a transitional period, but I believe that through the joint efforts of the China Government and the Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong's foreign exchange market will maintain a good momentum of development.