Leung Fung Yee: The Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission focuses on virtual assets and other fields, and Web3 and generative AI are major opportunities

According to China Fund News, on June 5, Liang Fengyi, chief executive of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, delivered a speech at the annual meeting of the Hong Kong Investment Fund Association, saying, "The Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission is committed to promoting growth. We understand that investment products in the market need to innovate. Only by keeping pace with the times can we meet the changing needs of investors. We are currently focusing on three major areas: environment, society and governance (ESG), virtual assets, and RMB-denominated products.”

Regarding the work related to virtual asset products, Liang Fengyi said, "The demand for these products has been rising in recent years. We have introduced measures to encourage responsible technological innovation and support the financial technology industry. We approved the first batch of virtual asset futures ETFs, and these ETFs mainly invest in The virtual asset futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, including the world’s first Ethereum futures ETF and Asia’s first Bitcoin futures ETF. Two weeks ago, we issued guidelines for operators of licensed virtual asset trading platforms. Like virtual asset futures ETFs, we have taken several measures to protect investors’ interests, such as prescribing requirements for inclusion criteria for tokens that can be traded by retail investors.”

In addition, Liang Fengyi pointed out that the investment environment is still severe, but she said, "We don’t forget that there are opportunities in crisis, and ‘opportunities’ include China’s economic restart, digital transformation, third-generation Internet (Web3) and generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) These are all major opportunities to drive innovation and sustainable investment.”

“Everyone of us has to learn to live with AI at work and in life,” she said. “There are indications that AI will help improve productivity, and over time, this may translate into growth in assets under management and other business metrics. AI is developing rapidly , and because AI has indeed simplified daily tasks such as financial advisory, portfolio construction, and big data analysis, it has convinced a lot of skeptics, so AI will soon penetrate into various fields around us. This will provide asset managers Free up time and energy to develop better strategies and achieve better investment performance."