HKSARG welcomes implementation of new measures to support expansion of opening up and high-quality development by Mainland authorities

The HKSARG welcomes the announcement by the Mainland authorities on 3 November 2025 about a series of new measures to support high-level opening up and high-quality development. These measures include the expansion of application of the exit endorsement for talents to Tianjin, Hebei Province, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Anhui Province, as well as all pilot free trade zones across the country with effect from 5 November 2025; implementation of "facial recognition" intelligent exit-entry clearance at various ports in the Chinese Mainland, including the Huanggang, Luohu, Liantang, Futian and Wenjindu Ports in Shenzhen, as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Port; facilitating the efficient cross-boundary flow of production factors within the Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone (HTCZ SZ Park); and the addition of four ports connecting Hong Kong as the entry ports under the 240-hour visa-free transit policy.

The talent exit endorsement has been implemented in the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) on a pilot basis since 20 February 2023, with a view to facilitating specified categories of GBA Mainland talents' travel to Hong Kong for exchanges and visits. Its scope of application was expanded to Beijing and Shanghai in May 2024. As of October 2025, more than 74 000 arrivals in Hong Kong were visitors holding the talent exit endorsement. On the solid policy foundation of promoting "southbound and northbound" two-way talent flow, the current measure of expanding the application of the talent exit endorsement will attract and bring more Mainland talents to Hong Kong for exchanges, thereby enhancing Hong Kong's attractiveness in pooling talents and strengthening its unique role as the country's international talent hub.

On the other hand, the HKSARG also welcomes the implementation of "facial recognition" intelligent exit-entry clearance by the Mainland authorities at various ports in the Chinese Mainland that are open for navigation and passage with Hong Kong. This arrangement allows travellers to complete clearance without presenting their physical travel documents, making cross‑boundary travel more convenient and efficient. The HKSARG will continue to enhance clearance efficiency at the control points in Hong Kong and improve visitors' experience, capitalising on these measures.

The HKSARG welcomes the implementation of a series of measures at the HTCZ SZ Park, which facilitate Hong Kong-Shenzhen innovation and technology collaboration and the efficient cross-boundary flow of factors of production. The Government will continue to actively collaborate with the Mainland authorities, including introducing innovative and convenient clearance arrangements at the Hong Kong Park, thereby promoting efficient and convenient cross-boundary travel for innovation and technology talents, and further contributing to the high-quality development of the GBA.

At the same time, the HKSARG also welcomes the Mainland authorities to further enhance the 240-hour visa-free transit policy by adding four ports connecting Hong Kong as the entry ports under the policy, thereby attracting international visitors to take Hong Kong as their entry stop or transit point in their multi-destination travel itineraries to our country, and fully leveraging Hong Kong's position as an international tourism hub.

 The HKSARG will continue to maintain close liaison with the Mainland authorities, with a view to facilitating exchanges through more innovative policies and enabling Hong Kong to further integrate into the national development, thereby creating stronger impetus of growth for Hong Kong and the entire GBA.

For relevant press release, please visit https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202511/03/P2025110300801.htm.

HKMA unveils "Fintech 2030" at Hong Kong FinTech Week 2025

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on 3 November 2025 unveiled "Fintech 2030", a forward-looking strategy for driving Hong Kong's fintech development, at the Hong Kong FinTech Week 2025.

Marking the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's flagship fintech event, the Hong Kong FinTech Week 2025, co-organised by the HKMA and Invest Hong Kong, represented a significant milestone for Hong Kong's fintech development. The event showcased transformative innovation and charted the direction for the future of fintech in Hong Kong. The event attracted global participants from around the globe to share pioneering ideas, exchange insights on fintech developments, and establish valuable business partnerships.

In his keynote speech, the Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, outlined the vision of "Fintech 2030" to make Hong Kong a robust, resilient, and future-ready fintech hub. The "Fintech 2030" will focus on four strategic pillars, collectively known as "DART", with a comprehensive portfolio of over 40 initiatives, including:

• Creating Next-generation Data and Payment Infrastructure: The HKMA will develop robust and future-ready infrastructure to support secure, efficient and scalable data sharing as well as bolster cross-border payment connectivity, thereby creating new opportunities for all, from unlocking credit and boosting trade finance for enterprises, to enabling more personalised financial services and facilitating easier cross-border remittances for individuals.

• A New Holistic "Artificial Intelligence x Authorized Institutions" Strategy (AI2 Strategy): The new strategy will further drive the comprehensive and responsible adoption of A.I. across the financial sector in Hong Kong and beyond, as well as develop shared, scalable A.I. infrastructure and finance-specific models in collaboration with industry stakeholders. By leveraging A.I., the HKMA aims to boost accessibility, responsiveness, and customisation in banking services while maintaining transparency and accountability to ensure public trust.

• Enhancing Business, Technology and Quantum Resilience: The HKMA is taking proactive steps to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector, including a new fintech-specific cybersecurity certification framework and a new system of early detection through real-time analysis. In shaping the future of quantum finance, the HKMA will drive industry readiness for post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and building quantum-safe infrastructure for secured financial services.

• Tokenisation of Finance: To build a vibrant tokenisation ecosystem in Hong Kong, the HKMA will accelerate the tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs), including financial assets, and lead by example by regularising the issuance of tokenised government bonds and exploring the concept of tokenising the Exchange Fund papers. Their settlements on blockchains will be enabled by new forms of digital money, including the e-HKD, tokenised deposits, and regulated stablecoins. The HKMA will soon launch the Project Ensemble pilot to empower real-value transactions and will continue to incubate innovative tokenisation use cases in collaboration with industry stakeholders and other central banks.

The Transport Department (TD) on 3 November 2025 reminded members of the public that, starting from 25 January 2026, all public transport and commercial vehicles' seated passengers must wear seat belts. From the same day onwards, all drivers must not use more than two mobile telecommunications devices (MTDs) during driving. Both new requirements aim to further enhance road, passenger and driving safety.

(1) Extending requirements for mandatory fitting and wearing of seat belts

All passenger's seats in public and private buses (including franchised buses and student service vehicles (SSVs)); rear passenger's seats in private light buses (including SSVs) and goods vehicles (GVs); and driver's seats and all passenger's seats of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) must be equipped with seat belts for these vehicles first registered from 25 January 2026. From the same day, passengers occupying the seats of these vehicles (whether newly registered or not), where seat belts are fitted, will be required to wear them. Any vehicle owner, driver or passenger breaching the seat belt-fitting or wearing requirements will be liable to a maximum fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for up to three months.

Of note, any driver who still operates the vehicle with a passenger aged under 15 seated in the rear seat of a GV or the passenger's seat of an SPV without wearing a seat belt will be subject to a maximum fine of $2,000. All passengers seated in the seats shall be responsible for wearing the seat belts.

In addition, to strike a balance between enhancing protection for students and addressing the trade's operational needs, existing SSVs must retrofit seat belts and safer seats on all passenger seats before 31 December 2028. From that day onwards, vehicles failing to meet such requirement will no longer be permitted to carry students. As for franchised buses, all newly procured buses have been equipped with seat belts on every seat since July 2018 and operators have retrofitted seat belts on all upper deck seats of about 1 900 existing buses.

A spokesman for the TD said, "Wearing seat belts offers effective protection to passengers in an accident. Studies show that it will reduce the risk of death and serious injury of drivers and passengers in head-on collisions by about 40 per cent and 70 per cent respectively. Further, the full implementation of the fitting of seat belts in SSVs helps cultivate the habit of wearing seat belts from an early age, thereby strengthening students' awareness of road safety."

(2) Tightening use of MTDs during driving

Driving attentively is key to road safety. Balancing considerations including the transport trades' needs and technological advancements, from 25 January 2026, any driver must not place more than two MTDs (i.e. mobile phones, tablet computers or laptop computers) in front of them during driving. The diagonal length of their screen must not exceed 19 centimetres. The MTDs must not obstruct the driver's view of the road and traffic as well as any mirror, device or camera-monitor fitted for viewing the roads.

Drivers contravening the new requirements may be liable to a maximum fine of $2,000, the spokesman added.

The TD will work with the Police, relevant departments, the Road Safety Council and public transport operators to step up publicity and public education for drivers and passengers on the legal requirements. The TD will also conduct publicity works for transport trades gradually. Members of the public may refer to the TD's webpage on seat belts (www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/sb) and the use of MTDs during driving (www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/mtd) or the Agent T Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AgentT.hk), or call the hotline 2804 2600 for details.

Following the passage by the Legislative Council, the Road Traffic (Construction and Maintenance of Vehicles) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2025, the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) (Amendment) Regulation 2025 and the Road Traffic (Traffic Control) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2025 will come into effect on 25 January 2026.

For relevant press release, please visit https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202511/03/P2025110100584.htm.

Primary Healthcare Commission announces Community Drug Formulary mechanism and Guidelines of Practice for Community Pharmacy to pave way for launch of Community Pharmacy Programme in 2026

The Primary Healthcare Commission (PHC Commission) announced the Community Drug Formulary (CDF) mechanism and promulgated the Guidelines of Practice for Community Pharmacy (Guidelines) on 30 October 2025 to establish a clear framework for the services of community pharmacies and their pharmacists, with a view to paving the way for the launch of the Community Pharmacy Programme (CPP). The CPP is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2026, offering more convenience for citizens to obtain affordable primary healthcare drugs and professional community pharmacy services.

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