Tommy Yuen Man-chung, director for constitutional and mainland affairs (special duties), made those remarks on Monday on the sidelines of a lecture about the Bay Area development. The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce organized the event.

Yuen said those policies will be released after the third plenary meeting of the nation’s top decision-making body that addresses these issues — the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The two previous plenary meetings, presided by Vice-Premier Han Zheng, were held in August 2018 and March this year.

Because the newly released blueprint for the Bay Area aims to turn the region into a “quality living circle for living, working and traveling”, it is crucial to boost cross-boundary flows of personnel, goods and capital within the region, Yuen said.

Whereas policies for the cross-boundary flow of personnel and goods have been constantly improved, Yuen said that financial and economic policies lag behind.

A package of policies that promote a free flow of capital are “on the radar”, Yuen said. Those include the long-anticipated Insurance Connect and Wealth Management Connect, which will allow mainland people to buy such products from Hong Kong companies, and vice versa, he said.

The Bay Area development plan also encouraged widening the scope for cross-boundary investment by Hong Kong and mainland residents and institutions, and expanding the channels for investment in financial products in each other’s markets.

James Henry Lau, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, said last month the restrictions on cross-boundary capital flows should be reviewed first to pave way for the Insurance Connect. This coincided with calls from various local organizations in Hong Kong hoping to lift the individual foreign-exchange quota limit within the Bay Area for more convenient transactions.

Yuen said Hong Kong, in the short term, will talk and coordinate with Guangdong province on a series of measures to bring convenience to Hong Kong residents who are considering working and starting businesses in the mainland cities within the Bay Area. The issues related to business incubators and innovation bases are also included, he added.
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