04/11/2025

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Hong Kong to ease digital asset rules

BEIJING: China’s Ministry of State Security yesterday warned that foreign intelligence agencies are stepping up efforts to “illegally obtain” genetic data and seed resources from the country’s grain sector, calling the activity a threat to national food security. “In recent years, foreign intelligence agencies have intensified their infiltration into China’s grain sector, illegally obtaining genetic data from crops such as soybeans, corn, and rice, posing a serious threat to the country’s food security,” the ministry said in a statement published on its official WeChat account. “Beijing has long considered its food security to be a national security issue – similar to the way in which energy security has long been framed through a national security lens in Washington,” said Even Rogers Pay, a director at Beijing-based Trivium China. “Posts like these from the Ministry of State Security are aimed to create suspicion in the public and encourage them to view foreign interest in ag and food with a sceptical eye.” LONDON: A climate finance platform co-founded by MUFG, Japan’s biggest financial group, has raised an initial US$600 million (RM2.5 billion) to help countries in developing markets adapt to the impacts of climate change and cut emissions, executives told Reuters. The announcement comes as business leaders gather in Brazil ahead of the COP30 climate talks with countries being urged to do more to close a UN-estimated finance gap of US$300 billion a year, including by billionaire investor Bill Gates. As extreme weather events such as floods and droughts increase in intensity, the GAIA Climate Loan Fund would primarily aim to back projects that help countries build resilience. “Adaptation Finance is a topic that has been on the rise at the last few COPs,” said Ariane Pevide, director of tokenised money market funds,” Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said at the same forum. The regulator did not disclose details of such real-value applications. “The momentum behind this (digital) transformation is underscored by substantial technological investment with total spending projected to reach more than HK$100 billion (RM54 billion) every year in the next three years,” Yue added. Hong Kong has witnessed a flurry of launches of tokenised Hong Kong-dollar and US dollar money market funds this year, reflecting the global trend of digital-native capital seeking yield-generating investments.

The ministry cited a case in which a Chinese businessperson, surnamed Zhu, sold restricted “parental seeds” – first-generation seeds used in hybridization experiments that are not allowed to be exported – to a foreign entity under a “joint seed cooperation” scheme. The ministry said Zhu hid the seeds in containers that were declared for other exports. Zhu was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, while 17 others involved received administrative penalties. In another incident, foreign consular staff and experts from “a certain country”reportedly conducted unauthorised field surveys in a major agricultural province, collecting data on crop yields and reserves. They allegedly used counter surveillance tactics, such as switching vehicles frequently and travelling on rural backroads to avoid detection. The ministry said it took action in both cases and urged the public to report any suspicious activity through official hotlines or online channels. – Reuters climate and blended finance at MUFG, in emailed comments. “We hope that the close of GAIA will strengthen the argument for private sector capital, focused on adaptation as a blueprint for the market.” FinDev Canada, Canada’s development finance body, and the Green Climate Fund, the world’s biggest dedicated climate fund, also provided investments and the fund aims to grow to US$1.5 billion. The fund works by providing long-term loans to sovereign, sub- and quasi-sovereign and state-owned entities across 19 countries, the founders said in a statement. At least 70% of the money will go to adaptation projects, such as sustainable agriculture and water management, with the rest on mitigation efforts such as renewable energy. – Reuters Tokenised products are gaining in popularity, drawing sizable flows, with digitalised currency becoming mainstream, two chief executives of major global banks said yesterday. HSBC’s CEO Georges Elhedery said during a panel discussion its tokenised gold product launched in Hong Kong has now become the third largest such product globally, with “mass adoption by retail customers”. “Our belief, which I think is shared by the leadership of Hong Kong, is that pretty much all transactions will settle on blockchains eventually, and that all money will be digital,” said Bill Winters, chief executive of lender Standard Chartered, on the same panel. – Reuters

Julia Leung, CEO of the securities watchdog, told the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference. The move eases current rules that require VATP’s order book – a list of buy and sell orders for virtual assets – to be ring-fenced in Hong Kong. The changes are designed to allow operations to tap global liquidity. Additionally, VATPs will now be allowed to distribute virtual assets and Hong Kong-regulated stablecoins with less than a 12-month track record to professional investors, easing previous requirements for a minimum one-year track record. The regulatory adjustments come as Hong Kong intensifies efforts to compete with Singapore and the United States amid surging appetite

for digital investments, solidifying its status as a fintech hub. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s wider financial sector is poised to benefit from rising investment in digital transformation and tokenisation, according to the city’s de-facto central bank. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority unveiled yesterday its “Fintech 2030” roadmap, focusing on data, artificial intelligence, resilience and tokenisation. As part of the initiative, HKMA said it will advance its sandbox Ensemble to enable real-value transactions in tokenised deposits and digital assets. “We will now begin incubating mature real-value use cases where tokenised deposits can offer significant advantages, starting with

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will ease rules and introduce a tokenisation pilot scheme to promote digital asset trading and investment, government officials said yesterday, as the city seeks to establish itself as a major fintech and digital asset hub. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will relax rules this week to allow locally licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATP) to share global order books with affiliates overseas, o Tokenisation of money funds the priority in pilot scheme

China warns of growing foreign espionage in seed, grain sector

Bull statues are placed in font of screens showing the Hang Seng stock index and stock prices outside Exchange Square in Hong Kong. – REUTERSPIC

Most equity markets rise on lingering trader optimism

MUFG-backed climate loan fund raises initial US$600 million

HONG KONG: Stocks rose yesterday after a busy last week, with optimism supported by another AI-led tech rally on Wall Street. Investors returned from the weekend in relatively good spirits after an upbeat end to October that saw China-US tensions ease, a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and healthy earnings from market darlings including Amazon. Traders are also hoping for key US jobs data to be released later in the week, though the ongoing government shutdown – with Democrats and Republicans no closer to a reopening deal – could cause them to be suspended again. While the government closure has not had any major impact on markets, analysts warned it could begin to affect Americans. “The shutdown could soon feasibly become the longest on record, though markets remain largely unperturbed,” wrote Chris Weston at Pepperstone. “Public frustration is expected to

build this week as (food) benefits for lower-income families are paused, and disruptions increase for domestic travel. “New enrolments for Americans seeking access to Affordable Care Act plans may also become increasingly problematic.” After April’s plunge sparked by US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs blitz, world markets have surged with Wall Street’s three main indexes and several others hitting record highs. Those gains have come on the back of expectations – and the delivery – of Fed rate cuts as well as a seemingly unending race to invest in artificial intelligence. That has pushed valuations of some firms to eye-watering levels, with chip titan Nvidia becoming the first US$5 trillion firm last week. Wall Street’s gains Friday were tracked in most of Asia at the start of the week. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Wellington,

Mumbai, Bangkok and Taipei all advanced, while Seoul piled 2.8% to a record as investors cheered a thawing of ties between South Korea and China. London and Paris opened on a positive note but Frankfurt dipped. Tokyo was closed for a holiday. Investors were keeping tabs on any new developments after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last week and agreed a deal to ease China’s rare earth curbs and lower US tariffs. Oil prices edged up after the OPEC+ alliance said it would lift output again in December but would pause production in the first three months of 2026. Gold prices hovered around US$4,000 after China said it was scrapping a tax incentive on buying the commodity. The precious metal has tumbled from its Oct 20 record above US$4,381 as investors cashed out, following a more than 60% surge since the start of the year. – AFP