HSBC Global Investment Summit focuses on world-shaping trends
The first day of the inaugural HSBC Global Investment Summit focused on the big trends and drivers shaping our world.
In his welcoming remarks at the three-day summit in Hong Kong, our Group Chairman Mark Tucker pointed to the event’s scale and diversity in bringing together more than 3,000 industry leaders, with 1,100 institutions represented. One of the summit’s common threads is around inter-connectedness and inter-dependency.
“For all the talk of deglobalisation, strong and deep global and regional linkages persist,” he said. “Some of them are established and longstanding - others are newly formed and brimming with potential. They may be taking on different forms, and adjusting, but they are here to stay.”
Super-connector city
Delegates heard from Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee and the city’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, who spoke about its strengths and role in the region.
Mr Lee described Hong Kong as a super-connector between mainland China and the rest of the world, saying that three-quarters of all offshore RMB payments are processed in Hong Kong.
Mr Chan emphasised Hong Kong’s ability to provide international investors with priority access to mainland China’s capital markets, while adopting global finance best practices and regulatory standards.
Delegates at the summit have the opportunity to hear from industry experts, thought leaders, change makers and HSBC executives across more than 70 sessions.
On Monday, a panel on Geopolitical Challenges: The World Right Now, moderated by Stephen King, our Senior Economic Adviser, discussed the world’s major and most influential economies.
Dr. Helen Belopolsky, our Global Head of Geopolitical Risk, said India is part of a megatrend characterised by decreasing global population growth rates, coupled with urbanisation, migration and ageing populations.
But this isn’t only happening in one country. “Up to half of the world’s population growth will happen in nine countries, and 35% of the world’s population will be under 60 by 2050,” she said.
Hot topics
Other sessions on Monday looked at the velocity of the momentum in India’s economy and the scale at which China is directing resources into technology, in part to help evolve supply chains.
Artificial intelligence and its regulation were also discussed by panellists who questioned if semiconductor chip restrictions in the US would impact the pace of evolving computation and language models. China was applauded as being ahead of the curve with AI regulation development.