Mar 2024
e-Newsletter

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  • As the AoF approaches its fifth year, Enoch will discuss the AoF's key initiatives in 2024. Please click MORE+ to check out the video message from Enoch.
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2 February 2024
Dr Andreas Dombret
Global Senior Advisor
Oliver Wyman

The former member of the Executive Board
of Deutsche Bundesbank kick-started the first
seminar under the Distinguished Speakers
Series in 2024 and shared his views on what
he termed the "Three I's—Invasion, Inflation,
and Interest rates”.

5 March 2024
Ms Jenny Johnson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Franklin Templeton

Ms Johnson shared her insights on a
broad range of topical issues related to
digitalization, innovation, and the future of
asset management.

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29 February 2024
Supporting Hong Kong
Green Week - Finance
Stream

The AoF was pleased to be a supporting organisation for both the HKMA IFFO-GFANZ Seminar: Financing the Net-zero Transition and the HKMA-HKUST-HKGFA Seminar: Taxonomyfor Hong Kong, which took place at the AoF Office, and involved participants from financial institutions, industry practitioners, and academia. Enoch delivered opening remarks in both seminars.

1 March 2024
AoF-HKIMR-IMF Seminar
on the “Outlook for Global Financial Stability”

The seminar, in the format of a fireside chat between Mr Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Chairman of the AoF and Mr Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF, discussed a broad range of topical issues, including debt vulnerabilities, China property market, climate transition, blockchain developments, global fragmentation and EM capital flows.

4 March 2024
Green Finance Landscape
in Hong Kong event hosted
by CFA Institute Research
& Policy Center and VMS
Group

In particular, the panel focused on talent trends in green and sustainable finance and shared some
findings from the latest HKIMR report on Advancing Talent Development in Financial Services.

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Meet the 2024 Cohort of the Financial Leaders Programme

The AoF is proud to announce that we have admitted 21 promising talents into our flagship Financial
Leaders Programme (FLP). This year's cohort represents a diverse group of senior executives, who were
nominated by their CEOs and went through a competitive selection process. We hope they will enjoy this
exciting FLP journey.
Please join us in congratulating the 2024 Cohort on their admission!

15 March 2024
FLP Alumni Seminar
with Arthur Yuen

Engagement with FLP participants continues after graduation to maintain the strong network of alumni
through various cross-cohort activities. We launched a new Alumni seminar series in 2024, with Mr
Arthur Yuen, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Deputy Chairman of
the AoF,
having a fireside chat with the FLP alumni from the 2022 and 2023 cohorts.

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25 January 2024
HKIMR Seminar on
Advancing Talent
Development in
Financial Services:
Emerging Global
Trends and Their
Impact on Hong
Kong

The seminar brought together approximately 60 industry leaders, including C-suite executives, HR and
other business heads from financial institutions and industry associations. Dr Giorgio Valente, Head of the
HKIMR, presented key findings from the latest research report, followed by a panel discussion chaired by
Enoch, featuring our collaborators on the report.

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New Open-Bid Applied Research Papers

In March 2024, three papers under our Open-Bid Applied Research Programme were published on the HKIMR website, covering topics on financial connectivity, ESG, and the digitalisation of financial services. The researchers visited the HKIMR recently and each delivered a seminar to share their research findings with an engaged audience.

Earnings Management and Price Informativeness
(Professor Wenxi Jiang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKIMR Visiting Scholar)

“Chinese stocks with a high valuation tend to have higher
subsequent earnings but not higher payouts…high valuation firms
could intentionally inflate reported earnings to cater to investors’
expectations. We provide supportive evidence by considering a direct
measure of earnings management, a component measuring non-
recurring gains and losses (NRGL), and by investigating the impact of
2020 reform of stock market delisting rules on earnings management.”

Digital Money Demand and Monetary Policy
(Dr Han Qiu, Bank for International Settlements)

“We observe significant fund inflows into E-wallets in response to
monetary tightening, with a preference for E-wallet Yu’E Bao balances
that offer liquidity and are interest-bearing. This results in an increased
sensitivity of bank deposits to monetary policy tightening, with an
increase in the effectiveness of the deposit channel of monetary
policy.”

Climate Regulations and Corporate Demand for ESG Talent
(Professor Dragon Yongjun Tang, The University of Hong Kong, HKIMR Visiting Scholar)

“We document that highly polluting Chinese firms boosted their
demand for employees with green skills after China introduced its first
environmental tax law in 2018. This effect is stronger in provinces with
higher environmental tax rates.”

New Issue of Insights
from Monetary Research

Two key themes of recent HKIMR Working Papers:

  • The digital transformation
    of financial markets and its
    implications
  • From cash holding to equity
    prediction: lessons from the
    COVID-19 pandemic
Conclusion of the three-month Doctoral Internship Program

We are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of our three-month Doctoral Internship Program this year, with the participation of three PhD students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong and Johns Hopkins University. It has been a pleasure for us to host them and to provide them with guidance on their PhD
research work.


Research Seminars

A series of engaging seminars
were held to facilitate
knowledge exchange among
researchers from local and
ourseas institutions on the
most topical issues in the
monetary and applied research
fields.

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AoF Regulators’ Seminar on the Crisis Management of Financial Institutions:
the experience of Credit Suisse
Professor Beatrice Weder di Mauro

President
Centre for Economic Policy Research Professor, International Economics
Faculty Associate, Centre for Finance
and Development

2024 Financial Leaders Programme
Welcome Session
International Conference on Central
Bank Digital Currencies and
Payment Systems

Co-organisers: Hong Kong Monetary Authority
AoF/HKIMR
Business School of the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology

AoF/HKIMR- AIMA- CFA Institute
Research & Policy Center Joint Seminar
on “Advancing Talent Developments
in Financial Services: Updates on
Emerging Global Trends, Their Impact,
and Talent Policy Strategies”

Co-organisers: AoF/HKIMR
Alternative Investment Management
Association
CFA Institute Research & Policy Center

ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook
(AREO) 2024 Hong Kong Outreach
AMRO Seminar: Navigating Tomorrow

Co-organisers: AoF/HKIMR
ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office

Distinguished Speakers Series
Mr Zhang Lei

Chairman and CEO
Hillhouse Investment

NBER East Asian Seminar
on Economics, 2024

Co-organisers: National Bureau of Economic Research
Bank for International Settlements
AoF/HKIMR
Business School of the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology

Details to be announced later on the AoF website. Please stay tuned.