Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR)’s Post

The Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR) hosted a joint conference with European Central Bank and Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) on “The Changing Global Trade and Financial Linkages” on 29 January 2026. The event brought together over 90 participants from central banks, the private sector, the public sector, and academia. In his welcoming remarks, Enoch Fung, MAoF, CEO of Hong Kong Academy of Finance (AoF) and Executive Director of the HKIMR, welcomed participants to join this conference. He emphasised the growing importance of Hong Kong’s role in facilitating trade and financial flows regionally and globally amid the geoeconomic challenges and technology transformations, and highlighted the need for strengthening knowledge exchanges amongst research institutions. Dong He, Chief Economist, ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, delivered a keynote speech on “Whither Trade and Financial Linkages in Asia?”. He outlined ASEAN+3’s transition toward a regionally anchored production and trade network, underpinned by deeper supply chains, stronger internal demand, and expanding investment ties. He stressed that while this integration boosts resilience, it heightens exposure to regional shocks, calling for policies to upgrade capabilities, strengthen supply chain diversity, and deepen regional financial and intra-ASEAN linkages. The conference featured a Policy Dialogue between Haibin Zhu, Executive Director (Research), Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Dong HE, Chief Economist, ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office. It also included a distinguished panel discussion moderated by Sally Chen, from the International Monetary Fund, with panellists Pym Manopimoke from Bank of Thailand, Feng Zhu from J.P. Morgan and Cyn-Young Park from The South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN). Furthermore, 6 high quality research papers were presented at the conference. The full conference programme can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gJYUwF3S #HKIMR #ECB #BOFIT #GlobalTrade #FinancialLinkages