The Future of the HK-US Dollar Peg - Briefing Luncheon with HKMA & FSDC

Event Details

The Hong Kong dollar peg, also known as the Link Exchange Rate System (LERS), will soon approach its 40th anniversary on Oct 17. The LERS has served Hong Kong well over the years, allowing for a stable currency to build Hong Kong into an international financial center and commercial hub.

However, in recent years, the cost of maintaining the peg has become much higher: a large amount of its foreign reserve has been used to keep the local currency to $7.75-7.85 per US dollar. The interest rate gap between the Hong Kong dollar and the greenback and high property prices have put more pressure on the peg. In addition, due to higher geopolitical risks and trade sanctions and fraught US-China relations, there have been calls to delink the US dollar.

As the Hong Kong economy has evolved enormously since 1983, is LERS still relevant in today's economic environment? Do the benefits of LERS outweigh the costs? Several countries are seeking alternatives to the US dollar, what does it mean to the peg in the long run? Is it a big moment for renminbi to be internalized?

Please join us for an exclusive session with Daniel Fung, Vice Chairman of Financial Services Development Council, and Remi Hayek, Senior Advisor of Hong Kong Monetary Authority, on Monday, September 4, to take stock of the future of the peg and what it means for Hong Kong as an international financial center. This session will be moderated by Dr Eden Woon, AmCham President.

Remarks:

This event is closed to the media and held under Chatham House rules
Light lunch will be provided

Speakers

Daniel Fung

Vice Chairman at Financial Services Development Council

Rami Hayek

Senior Advisor at Hong Kong Monetary Authority

Eden Woon (Moderator)

President at AmCham Hong Kong

Daniel R. Fung, SBS, SC, QC, JP, FCIArb who served as Solicitor General of Hong Kong (1994-8) under
Chris Patten, the last Governor of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and the Honorable C H
Tung, the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, is a specialist in complex commercial litigation
and in public law, specifically judicial review of legislative and administrative action, supervision of
regulated industries including the financial services and the television & broadcasting sectors. In
addition, Mr Fung is a specialist in China-United States relations, specifically the security dimension
and military-to-military relations, and in Chinese state-owned enterprises covering both domestic and overseas operations.
Mr Fung is a National Delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (from 2003),
a member of the Hong Kong Government’s Strategic Development Commission (2006-2012), Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority (2002-2008), a member of the World Bank International Advisory Council on Law & Justice (1999- 2005), a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the rule of law and legal and judicial capacity building in China, Laos and Cambodia (2000-2002), a board member of the Airport Authority (1999-2005), a non-executive director of the Securities & Futures Commission (1998-2004), a member of the Hong Kong Government Central Policy Unit (1993-94) and a member of the Basic Law Consultative Committee (1985-1990).
Mr Fung is currently Adjunct Professor of City University of Hong Kong, Visiting Professor of Peking
University (2007-2009), Visiting Professor of Sun Yat-Sen University (2004-2007), Co-Chair of the
International Advisory Board of the Peking University Law School of the Transnational Law, Chairman
of Social Sciences Advisory Board of Lingnan University, Honorary Lecturer in the Department of
Professional Legal Education of the University of Hong Kong, CIETAC Arbitrator (from 2001) and
Arbitrator, Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (from 2012).
Mr Fung was Joint General Editor of Arbitration in China (Thomson, 2004) and a contributing author
to Global Civics (Brookings, 2010), The Confluence of Affluence: The Pearl River Delta Story (SCMP,
2005), Democracy & the Rule of Law (Library of Congress, 2001), Hong Kong the Super Paradox: Life
after Return to China (St Martin’s Press, 2000) as well as numerous articles in academic journals.
Mr Fung also serves as Chairman of the United Nations Peace & Development Foundation, member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Rule of Law (2009 - 2013), President of the International Law Association (ILA) Hong Kong Chapter, Chairman of the Board of International
Bridges to Justice (IBJ), Advisory Board Member of Global Thinkers Forum, Member of Advisory
Council, American Renewable Energy Institute, Senior Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS),
Vice Chairman (2006-2011) and Treasurer (2011-2014) of SGS, Vice-President of the Academy of
Experts, Member of the Board of Governors of the East West Center (EWC), Council Member of
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) (2004- 2012), Council Member of China Law Society
(CLS) and Founding Governor of the China-US Exchange Foundation.

Rami Hayek joined the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in June 2020 as Senior Advisor in the External Department. In this role, Mr Hayek helps drive the HKMA’s initiatives and efforts to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international financial center. Prior to joining the HKMA, Mr Hayek spent 6 years at HSBC as Managing Director, Head of Institutional Client Group in Asia Pacific. He was a member of the Global Banking & Markets Asia Pacific Management Committees. Mr Hayek joined HSBC from UBS where he was Head of Client Coverage Asia Pacific and was a member of the UBS Asia Pacific Management Committee. He joined UBS from Credit Suisse Asset Management where he was the Head of Distribution for Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong. Mr Hayek brings more than thirty years of combined experience in capital markets, asset & wealth management. He has a track record in emerging & developed markets, client & product management as well as in business development. Before moving to Hong Kong in 2007, Mr Hayek worked in London for Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank and Bankers Trust. Mr Hayek has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (finance and economics) from the American University of Beirut and is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

Dr. Eden Woon is the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, effective from September 1, 2022.

Dr. Woon is an experienced business and academic leader who has also served many years in government and NGOs, and is no stranger to the business community in the Greater China region and beyond, having spent his career in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Thailand, and USA.

Prior to joining AmCham HK, from 2018 to 2022, Dr. Woon was the President of Asian Institute of Technology, an international graduate engineering institute in Bangkok which focuses on sustainability. In 2017-2018, he was the Vice Chairman of Alba Group Asia, an environmental engineering company headquartered in Berlin. From 2010 until November 2017, Dr. Woon was
the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. From 2006 to 2010, Dr. Woon was based in Shanghai, being the Managing Director of Li & Fung Group's China Corporate Office and Managing Director of Toys ”R” Us China. He has also been a Vice-President of Starbucks Coffee Company in China. In 1997-2006, Dr. Woon was the CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Woon was the Executive Director of the Seattle-based Washington State China Relations Council from 1994 to 1997. Dr. Woon served in the US Air Force until 1993 when he retired as a Colonel. He once acted as China policy advisor to the US Secretary of Defense and had a stint in Beijing. He also taught Mathematics at the US Air Force Academy for six years, reaching the title of Associate Professor.

Dr. Woon spent his childhood in Hong Kong and received his BA degree from the University of Iowa and his MA, MS, and PhD degrees, all in Mathematics, from the University of Washington in Seattle. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, DC.

A U.S. citizen and fluent speaker of both Mandarin and Cantonese, Dr. Woon serves as Special Advisor to the Shaw Foundation of Hong Kong, as a Board member of the Hong Kong Ballet, and he is a Justice of Peace of Hong Kong. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

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The Future of the HK-US Dollar Peg - Briefing Luncheon with HKMA & FSDC

Event Details