Hong Kong & Middle East Regulators: Perfection Can Backfire

This episode features a fireside talk from the Finternet 2025 Asia Digital Finance Summit, themed "From Hong Kong to the Middle East: The Evolution of Digital Assets Regulation". The session was moderated by Rocky Tung (Director, Policy Research & Specialist Advisor, Financial Services Development Council, Hong Kong), with guests Elizabeth Wong (Director of Intermediaries & Head of FinTech, Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong) and Wai Lum Kwok (Senior Executive Director, Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market). Text summary.

The Finternet 2025 summit took place on 4 November in Hong Kong under the theme "Connecting Dreams × Building the Future," supported by more than ten institutions including OSL Group, Invest HK, the Financial Services Development Council and Hong Kong Cyberport.

On 3 November, the SFC issued a circular allowing licensed local Virtual Asset Trading Platforms to share order‑books with affiliated overseas platforms -- meaning Hong Kong investors will soon be able to trade into the same liquidity pool as overseas markets, directly accessing deeper liquidity and closer to international pricing. 

Timeline:

00:00 Introduction: Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council

01:49 SFC's early regulatory experiences and developments

04:08 Hong Kong's latest policy: Accessing global liquidity

07:05 Changes in Abu Dhabi's regulatory framework

08:39 The trend of integration between traditional finance and crypto markets

10:40 Regulatory challenges in cross-border transactions and capital flows

12:59 Tokenized assets and global regulatory alignment

14:31 Progress in Hong Kong's digital asset ecosystem development

15:06 The relationship between license approval processes and market development

18:56 Interoperability and the integration of technology and regulation

22:10 Practical applications and market feedback on tokenized assets