Category: HK Business

CNY Mainly ‘Internationalized’ in Offshore Hong Kong

Commentary Recently, Xi Jinping of mainland China visited Saudi Arabia, arousing speculation of some new deals to be done. Specifically, some nationalists expect a substantial portion of Saudi oil exported to China to be settled in the Chinese Yuan (CNY) rather than the U.S. dollar. Such wishful thinking is obviously self-defeating by looking at the…


UBS Report Says US Has One-Third of World’s Billionaires

According to the Billionaire Ambitions Report 2022, published by UBS, a Swiss-based global financial services firm, as of March 2022, there were 2,668 billionaires worth $12.7 trillion in the world, down from 2,755 individuals and $13.1 trillion in 2021. Both the number of billionaires and their total wealth dropped about three percent. The United States…


For the First Time in 31 Years, American Companies’ Regional Headquarters in HK Are Less Than Chinese Companies

In 2022, among all the foreign companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong, the number of Chinese companies surpassed that of the American ones for the first time in 31 years. On Nov. 24, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Government published the report “2022 Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong…


Foreign Finance Companies Exit Hong Kong; Chinese Firms Have Increased Overtaking US Companies

Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department and InvestHK published a joint survey on Nov. 24, 2022, named “2022 Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong with Parent Companies Located outside Hong Kong.” The results show that the number of business operations in Hong Kong with parent companies outside Hong Kong fell to 8,978 in 2022….


Real Estate Group Founder Expects HK Property Prices to Fall 20 Percent in 2022

With increasing supply of properties due to more Hongkongers emigrating overseas, property prices plummet and are getting worse rapidly. According to the Centa-City Leading Index, since the beginning of 2022, HK property prices have fallen by more than 12 percent. The trend is also not too optimistic, as, in just the past 18 weeks, the…


Bill Ackman Bets Big Against Hong Kong Dollar, Says Currency Peg Doomed to Break

Billionaire Bill Ackman said that his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has taken a significant short position against the Hong Kong dollar and expects the currency’s peg to the U.S. dollar to break soon. Ackman shared Richard Cookson’s article, “Pressure on the Honk Kong Dollar Peg Keeps Building,” published on Bloomberg that talked about…


Hedge Fund Mogul Questions Peg of Hong Kong Dollar to US Dollar

Bill Ackman, billionaire founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Holdings Ltd., wrote on Twitter Nov. 24, “By holding put options, we have a large nominal short position on the Hong Kong dollar.” He said that the linked exchange rate system no longer makes sense for Hong Kong. It is just a matter of time before…


Economic Contraction, Real Estate Slimming Down, Manpower Exodus, Hong Kong’s Economic Outlook Is Not Optimistic

The latest economic data shows Hong Kong’s economy is in trouble. Some analysts pointed out that as leading real estate agencies are starting to “slim down,” the economic outlook is not optimistic. Other analysts believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will speed up its control of the Hong Kong market. Major Real Estate Agencies to Slim…


Wealth of China’s Richest Plunges by 39 Percent in 2022

Forbes recently released China’s Richest 2022.  Among the top 100 richest people, 79 of them saw their wealth fall. The biggest wealth drop since Forbes’ records began with a drop of 39 percent—from $1.48 trillion in 2021 to $907.1 billion in 2022. At the same time, the “Hurun China Rich List” also shows that the…


HK Foreign Reserves Down $80 Billion in 2022, Aggregate Banking System Balance Fell Below $13 Billion

Since the beginning of this year, the total of Hong Kong’s foreign exchange reserve assets has decreased by nearly $80 billion, a drop of 16 percent. At the same time, the aggregate balance of Hong Kong’s banking system has also fallen below the “psychological watershed” of $13 billion (HK$100 billion). All these negative data show…