建立跨境人民币资金监管体系的构想

2004年香港的银行开办个人人民币业务以来,跨境贸易人民币结算、境外投资和外商直接投资人民币结算等有关人民币跨境使用的相关政策陆续出台,离岸人民币业务和服务品种日渐丰富,跨境人民币流动总量大幅剧增。随着跨境人民币业务向纵深发展,为有效防止国际资本对内地金融市场的直接冲击,适应国际金融环境的动荡起伏,建立跨境人民币资金监管体系需引起重视。     

在岸人民币市场与香港离岸人民币市场联动关系的实证研究

作为国际金融中心,香港为内地的发展提供了举足轻重的金融服务。近年来,我国政府力推人民币国际化,具有完备金融市场的香港成为构建离岸人民币中心、促进人民币国际化进程的排头兵。香港已经建成了规模庞大的离岸人民币市场,这一市场的波动和走势对在岸人民币市场的干扰和影响不可轻视,关乎在岸人民币市场的稳定和国家金融安全。文章分析了在岸人民币市场即期汇率、远期汇率与香港离岸人民币市场即期汇率、远期汇率之间的关系,发现两两之间并不总是存在引导关系。     

人民币国际化与香港离岸中心建设

文章在简述人民币国际化内涵及离岸金融中心对货币国际化的助推作用的基础上,从制度、市场等方面分析了香港作为人民币离岸中心的优势和潜力,并提出了促进香港离岸中心发展的政策建议,如拓宽流出渠道、加大产品服务创新、扩大人民币资金运用渠道和防范离岸人民币业务风险等。     

BANK FAILURE AND CONTAGION EFFECTS: EVIDENCE FROM HONG KONG

In this paper the influence of three Hong Kong bank failures on stock prices of the colony's banking industry is examined. As deposit insurance is nonexistent in Hong Kong, the world's fourth-largest financial center, an interesting environment is provided for testing contagion effects of bank failure on other healthy financial institutions. By examining contagion effects in an environment void of explicit deposit insurance, this study should provide interesting insights into the resiliency of modern-day financial markets. In turn, insights should also be provided into debates concerning the role and reform of deposit insurance and the rationale for regulation of the financial services industry in general. The results indicate that unexpected bank failure causes significant negative stock price reactions within the banking industry; yet, some banks are less affected than others.     

香港作为全球性金融中心的比较优势与差距

本文从全球性金融中心的角度分析,指出香港的比较优势主要表现为在金融全球化格局中的区位优势、制度优势和金融业的比较优势。然而,与其他全球性金融中心相比,香港的差距也是明显的,突出表现为金融市场、金融机构的发展不平衡,存在众多的短板;金融业发展腹地比较狭小,总体规模仍然偏小。本文认为,香港如果能够有效推进与中国内地的经济融合,构建以香港为龙头、以深圳、广州为两翼的大珠三角金融中心圈,则香港有条件发展成为仅次于伦敦、纽约的全球性国际金融中心,成为亚太区特别是大中华地区主要的资产与财富管理中心、中国企业最重要的境外上市和投融资中心、全球主要的人民币离岸业务中心及亚洲人民币债券市场。     

Ownership structure and corporate voluntary disclosure in Hong Kong and Singapore

Drawing on prior empirical research based on disclosure behavior in developed western markets, this study examines the association of ownership structure with the voluntary disclosures of listed companies in the Asian settings of Hong Kong and Singapore. An analysis of annual reporting practices shows that the extent of outside ownership is positively associated with voluntary disclosures. In particular, the results also indicate that the level of information disclosure is likely to be less in “insider” or family-controlled companies, a significant feature of the Hong Kong and Singapore stock markets.     

Bank selection and share of wallet among SMEs: Apparent differences between Hong Kong and Australia

This paper examines the factors that small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hong Kong consider when selecting a banking partner, and the extent to which they use different banks (share of wallet). The findings are contrasted with those from another study of Australian business. The results show that firms in both countries view a bank's willingness to accommodate their banking and credit needs as being important. Hong Kong firms appear to give this factor higher priority when making their bank selection, while Australian firms appear to place higher emphasis on long-term relationships. Australian firms appear to have a more stable relationship with their primary bank as compared to the firms in Hong Kong where switching behaviours are found to be common. While ‘guanxi’ is often seen as critical in maintaining a business relationship in the Asian context, this study suggests it has limited impact for SMEs in Hong Kong in increasing share of wallet. The findings offer marketing implications for banks that are operating, or are planning to operate, business banking in both places.     

A Note on the Information Content of Relocating Corporate Domicile: A Trading Volume Approach

Overseas location of corporate domicile is not new for Hong Kong. Before the eighties, some companies operating in Hong Kong, principally shipping companies and financial institutions, registered overseas for tax purposes. Since 1989 there has been a rapid increase in the number of companies deciding to relocate, including industrial companies. This study examinies the association between sharemarket trading and the relocation announcement. The results indicate that unusually large trading volumes are observed immediately after the announcement day.     

Banks and the emergence of Hong Kong as an international financial center

Hong Kong is generally recognized as one of the premier international financial centers (IFCs) in the world. Its position has owed much to the opening of opportunity in the People's Republic of China since 1978, as well as the territory's long-standing reputation for transparency and efficiency in the provision of financial services. Less commonly recognized are the origins of Hong Kong's expertise in international banking and the prominent position that it commanded in the first few decades after the Second World War. This article seeks to clarify the development of Hong Kong as an international banking center in the first years after the War. The unique combination of laissez-faire government policy and a vibrant traditional local banking system catapulted Hong Kong to regional and global importance in the 1950s and 1960s and formed the basis for its later prominence as an IFC.     

The influence of government intervention on the trajectory of bank performance during the global financial crisis: A comparative study among Asian economies

The global financial crisis that started from 2007 onwards spread around the world and impacted the performance of banks in major economies. Many governments have used a variety of intervention policies to recover their financial systems. By examining the dynamic changes in bank performance before and after government intervention, this study demonstrates the use of the piecewise latent trajectory model. We used the data collected from Bloomberg for banks of five major Asian economies, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, over the eleven-quarter period from the 4th quarter of 2007 to the 2nd quarter of 2010 on six financial performance indicators reflecting solvency, credit risk and profitability. The change patterns of bank performance before/after government intervention during the global financial crisis have been compared among the five economies. Our empirical results indicate that, on average, the bank performance in terms of solvency, credit risk, and profitability improves after government intervention. Moreover, the influence of government intervention on bank performance depends on the evaluative financial indicator, the economy, and whether banks are internationalized. South Korea and Hong Kong have been identified to be the economies with stronger bank performance after government intervention. Policies demonstrated useful in South Korea and Hong Kong have been summarized and discussed.     

Impact of family dominance on monitoring of earnings management by audit committees: Evidence from Hong Kong

This study examines whether the establishment of audit committees by Hong Kong firms would constrain earnings management, especially in firms with family-dominated corporate boards, a condition unique to Hong Kong. The study uses the methodology of three-stage (3SLS) regression analyses to control for endogeneity among earnings management, voluntarily established audit committee, and corporate board size. The results of regression analyses based on 523 observations for the period of 1999-2000 when the audit committees were first established by Hong Kong firms show that overall audit committees play a significant role in constraining earnings management even in the business environment of higher ownership concentration. The effectiveness of audit committees is, however, significantly reduced when family members are present on corporate boards, especially when family members dominate the corporate board.     

Looking for risk premium and contagion in Asia-Pacific foreign exchange markets

This article tests pure contagion effects among four Asian foreign exchange markets, namely, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan during the 1997 Asian crisis. A conditional version of international capital asset pricing model (ICAPM) in the absence of purchasing power parity (PPP) is used to control for economic fundamentals or systematic risks. The empirical results show strong contagion effects in both conditional means and volatilities of those markets after systematic risks have been accounted for. Specifically, the contagion-in-mean effects are mainly driven by the past return shocks in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. As for contagion in volatility, the lead/lag relationships appear to be multidirectional among Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, but between Hong Kong and Singapore, and between Hong Kong and Taiwan, they are unidirectional, with Hong Kong playing the dominant role in generating negative volatility shocks. In addition, the conditional ICAPM with asymmetric multivariate general autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic in mean (MGARCH(1,1)-M) structure is able to explain/predict on average 17.28% of the return variations in those markets. Therefore, this study provide a further evidence that the time-varying risk premium is a very strong candidate in explaining the predictable excess return puzzle [Lewis, K. K. (1994). Puzzles in international financial markets. NBER Working Paper No. 4951] since the risk premia founded in this article are not only statistically significant but also economically significant.     

香港人民币离岸中心发展的机遇与挑战

香港人民币离岸中心建设已成为高层共识,前景光明,并已取得初步成果。它与内地的金融改革是协同推进的,有助于巩固香港金融中心地位,促进东亚经贸繁荣。来自其他国际金融中心的竞争,以及与大陆金融市场在利率、汇率等核心金融指标上的差异,是香港人民币离岸中心发展的重要挑战。展望其发展,有如下建议:采取适当的财政货币手段化解离岸与在岸市场的利率和汇率差异;循序渐进、逐步完善香港人民币离岸市场的货币功能;打通人民币"回流"和"外循环"的通道,支持香港成为全球人民币资产的交易、清算和定价中心。     

Perceived risk and the interplay of expert endorsement,corporate image and investment knowledge in mutual fund advertising

This study aims at examining the effects of expert endorsement, corporate image and investment knowledge on individuals’ perceived risk in mutual fund advertising. Based on the results from a content analysis of 341 print advertisements of mutual funds in Hong Kong, a 3 (advertising texts about corporate image: corporate management, financial performance, corporate responsibility)?×?2 (visual of expert endorser: presence, absence) between-subjects online experiment was subsequently conducted. The content analysis showed that visuals of experts had a significant relationship with corporate attributes in the advertisements. Results from the experimental study revealed that the participants reading the expert-endorsed advertisement about corporate management were more favorable toward the advertiser’s corporate image. The participants’ investment confidence posed a significant effect to their favorability toward the advertiser’s corporate image and subsequently their willingness to invest. When formulating communication strategies for financial products and services, practitioners should pay attention to the effect of expert endorsement in enhancing individuals’ favorability of the corporate image, as well as the effect of individuals’ investment confidence on individuals’ willingness to invest.     

Economic Consequences of the Cancellation of Inner Reserves for Hong Kong Banks

Inner reserves, which allow banks to report a higher or lower earnings at managerial discretion, bring into focus the ability of the market to make an informed judgment of banks' performance. This study examines the market response to the disclosure and elimination of inner reserves by Hong Kong banks resulting from a change in the regulatory reporting system. Test results show that despite a significant increase in the variability of bank earnings in the post-compared to the pre-disclosure period, there is no evidence of a significant increase in banks' systematic risk in the post-disclosure period. Earnings-returns association is significantly stronger in the post- than in the pre-disclosure period, indicating an improvement in the value relevance of reported earnings. Disclosure of inner reserve transfer is found to provide incremental information over reported earnings over a short disclosure window. These results suggest that the increased value relevance of earnings outweighs the costs of inner reserve cancellation, thus supporting greater reporting transparency for Hong Kong banks.     

新加坡人民币离岸金融业务发展分析

日前,新加坡成为继香港和台湾之后的第三个人民币离岸金融中心,在人民币区域化、国际化的进程中取得了长足的发展。本文阐述了新加坡金融市场现状,分析了其优势和进一步发展人民币离岸业务的制约因素,提出大力推进新加坡人民币离岸业务的政策建议,为人民币离岸市场建设和人民币区域化、国际化提供理论依据和指导。     

Reviews

This study investigated the interaction between proficiency in both mathematics and English on students' performance in the first-year level financial accounting course, The data were gathered on the results of first-year accounting major students at the recently established Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and analysed using regression analysis. The findings showed that a higher degree of proficiency in mathematics was associated with a higher level of performance in the financial accounting course for students who were more competent in English.     

跨境贸易人民币结算试点与港澳人民币业务发展

随着香港、澳门与内地间的经贸往来和人员流动日趋紧密,在有关政策推动下,香港和澳门的人民币业务不断拓展.但由于人民币在港澳与内地之间的单向交易性等原因,近几年港澳地区的人民币业务发展速度不断放缓.跨境贸易人民币结算试点是中国经济金融改革开放的重大战略决策,它将有利于推进人民币国际化进程,香港和澳门将一如既往在其中发挥重要的窗口作用;同时它也将进一步促进香港、澳门经济金融的发展,尤其是进一步加快港澳人民币业务的发展.     

金融中心评价指标体系研究

本文在综述国内外关于金融中心评价指标体系的基础上,分析了影响金融中心形成和运行的因素,依据国际金融中心的形成和运行具有较高相关度的原则,构建了包括经济环境、金融市场、金融机构和金融制度四方面内容的评价指标体系,利用2004年东京、新加坡、香港、北京、上海、广州和深圳七个城市的数据,依据层次聚类分析方法对这些城市所处的层次进行定位:北京、广州和深圳成为一类,为金融中心的初级阶段;上海成为第二类,为国内金融中心阶段;香港和新加坡成为一类,是区域国际金融中心;东京处于最高阶段,是真正的国际金融中心.最后对这些城市的发展前景进行了预测.     

Business strategies and annual report readability

This study investigates the association between firm-level business strategy and the readability of narrative disclosures in annual reports. As business strategy affects the information environment and financial performance of firms, we expect the readability of narrative disclosures to vary with the particular business strategy that a firm pursues. In accord with this expectation, we find that firms with prospector-type business strategies produce less readable narratives, while those with defender-type business strategies produce more readable narratives. We also document that the association between strategy and readability is partially mediated by organisational performance, although the mediation effect is rather modest. These findings are robust when subjected to a series of sensitivity tests.