(Yicai) Feb. 25 -- Hong Kong has doubled the Chinese special administrative region’s specific quota assigned to each of the 40 selected banks for Chinese yuan funds to CNY200 billion (USD29.1 billion).

The quota of each lender participating in the Renminbi Business Facility was increased to CNY200 billion from CNY100 billion earlier this month to help financial institutions facilitate the wider use of the yuan by individuals and enterprises in trade and cross-border operations, Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said during the presentation of the government’s financial budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 at the Legislative Council today.

The 15th Five-Year Plan suggests promoting the internationalization of the Chinese yuan and enhancing the openness of capital accounts, so Hong Kong will leverage its unique advantages to actively align with the national development strategy, CMG Radio The Greater Bay reported Chan as saying.

Specific measures include facilitating more convenient foreign exchange quotes and transactions between the yuan and other currencies to reduce transaction costs, regularly issuing yuan bonds to enrich the offshore yuan market and improve its bond yield curve, researching concrete measures to strengthen the price discovery function of the short-to-medium-term interest rate market, attracting high-quality issuers to increase the sale of yuan bonds in Hong Kong, exploring emerging markets, and promoting more cross-border yuan transactions in the region.

To enrich connectivity, Hong Kong will actively collaborate with the Chinese mainland to expedite the introduction of government bond futures, including real estate investment trusts in the mutual market access program, incorporating yuan trading counters into the Stock Connect, and exploring the optimization of the Bond Connect, according to Chan.

Hong Kong’s task force for Chinese mainland firms going global will hold promotional activities to attract mainland businesses to use Hong Kong as a base for their overseas ventures and establish a cross-sector professional services platform that brings together legal, accounting, financial, testing and certification, and marketing service providers in Hong Kong to support these outbound enterprises, Chan noted.

Moreover, the Hong Kong government will accelerate the large-scale development of autonomous driving, ensuring road safety while achieving commercial operations, and encourage the industry to use Hong Kong as a platform to explore overseas markets. The city is expected to launch its first self-driving transportation system, Airportcity Link, within the year.

Hong Kong will also launch a HKD10 billion (USD1.3 billion) innovation and technology industries-oriented fund to lead market capital investments in strategic emerging sectors, such as life and health technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and future industries. The government is in the process of selecting fund managers, with the aim of having the fund operational by the end of the year, Chan said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione