HKMA says to continue to focus on asset quality in 2023

HONG KONG, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday that in 2023, it plans to conduct health checks on exposures to credit non-bank financial institutions, and continue to focus on asset quality amid ongoing challenges in the credit landscape.

At a press conference of "Hong Kong Banking Sector: 2022 Year-end Review and Priorities for 2023," the HKMA said that Hong Kong's retail banks returned to growth in 2022, with pre-tax operating profit growing 19.3 percent.

The HKMA said that in 2022, the loan demand in Hong Kong weakened and asset quality was at healthy levels. In the same year, statistics showed that the classified loan ratio of the banking sector was 1.38 percent, an annual increase of 0.5 percentage points.

HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Arthur Yuen said at the press briefing that in 2022, the liquidity coverage ratio of Hong Kong's banking system reached 162.3 percent, exceeding the 100 percent level required by the regulation.

Yuen added that the HKMA plans to continue to step up supervision of climate risk management, sale of green products, supervisory framework and collaboration.