The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, today (June 11) encouraged local university students embarking on an exchange programme to Shanghai to grasp the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the financial markets and economic environment in the two places.
 
      Officiating at a launch ceremony for the Cross-boundary Study Tour for Post-secondary Financial Talents 2019 (the Programme), Mr Lau thanked financial industry leaders for their continuous support for the Programme, which has entered its eighth year. Participating students are offered invaluable working experience covering banking, insurance, securities, accounting, asset management and financial technologies. Mr Lau appealed to the students to make use of the exchange opportunity to experience the local economic environment and the corporate working culture, as well as to interact with Mainland financial talents, with a view to better equipping themselves for their future career development.
 
      Mr Lau also encouraged the students to learn more about national development goals, including how Hong Kong and Shanghai can leverage their respective unique edges and systems to collaborate and promote regional economic development in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. He noted that Hong Kong, as an international financial centre, plays a paramount role in promoting the economic development, serving enterprises and enhancing capital flows in the Greater Bay Area.  
 
      Also addressing the launch ceremony, Council Member of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, Dr Hubert Chan, and the President and Chief Executive of the Fin Society, Mr Shannon Cheung, expressed their delight in co-organising the Programme again as the Assisting Organisation and the Supporting Organisation respectively. They further encouraged the students to make full use of the exchange opportunity for future career development in the financial industry. Dr Chan said he was glad to see that past participants were able to learn the operation of the Mainland's financial markets and business culture, and also to strengthen their interpersonal and networking skills. Mr Cheung expressed the hope that the students would integrate themselves into the local community and gain a better understanding of the current economic situation in the Mainland through visits to "new economy" enterprises.
 
     This year, 31 students from nine universities in Hong Kong are taking part in the Programme. They will depart for Shanghai on June 17 for a six-week exchange programme comprising attachments to financial institutions for about five weeks; visits to government organisations, financial regulators and exchanges; and exchange activities with Shanghai students. Reciprocally, a group of Shanghai university students who are taking part in the Programme will visit Hong Kong in late July.
 
      On signing the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Advancing Hong Kong-Shanghai Financial Co-operation (MOU) in 2010, Hong Kong and Shanghai agreed to strengthen co-operation in four areas, namely the development of the securities markets, the development of the bond markets, the mutual establishment of financial institutions, and the training and exchange of financial talents. Under the MOU, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office jointly launched the Programme in 2012.

Ends/Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Issued at HKT 18:52

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