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The Greater Bay Area (GBA) initiative is an ambitious plan to integrate and transform nine mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta and two special administrative regions – Hong Kong and Macao – into an international bay area that will rival other such world-class city clusters like the New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo bay areas.

Since the formulation of the GBA Initiative in 2017, business communities have placed high expectation on the coordinated development among GBA cities, as the removal of barriers that limit the movement of trade, capital, information, and people—coupled with targeted government policies—will allow various industries to flourish.

Although specific details of the implementation of the GBA Initiative have not fully been established, the past two years have witnessed many significant policy developments. For example, on the financial services front, Hong Kong is working closely with mainland authorities to successfully implement a number of facilitation measures set out in the GBA Outline Development Plan, including remote onboarding for mainland bank account opening, promoting the usage of Hong Kong digital wallets in the GBA, as well as the successful launch of the Wealth Management Connect.

In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we demonstrate the opportunities in the Greater Bay Area from multiple perspectives. We begin by presenting an overview of the GBA, and illustrate the role played by its major cities. Then, we summarize the major incentives offered in the region, before exploring the improving connectivity in the financial sector. Finally, we analyze Hong Kong’s role as a global financial hub, which will be further strengthened under the Greater Bay Area Outline.

In this Issue: 

• An Overview of China’s Greater Bay Area
• Tax Incentives and Government Subsidies in the GBA
• Financial Sector Opening Up in the GBA and the Wealth Management Connect Scheme
• Hong Kong as a Global Financial Services Center