The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Monetary Authority of Macao have signed a revised MoU expanding their financial cooperation framework.
Following this announcement, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) have signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), broadening the scope of their existing cooperation beyond banking supervision to cover financial infrastructure, data exchange, and industry training.
The signing took place during a bilateral meeting between representatives of both authorities. While the two regulators have maintained close cooperation in banking supervision for a number of years, the updated agreement marks a formal extension of that relationship into new operational areas.
Expanded scope of collaboration
Under the revised MoU, the two authorities will deepen cooperation across several domains, including financial infrastructure linkage, information exchange on currency and data statistics, and joint industry training and engagement initiatives. These additions reflect a broader strategic intent to align regulatory and operational frameworks across the two jurisdictions.
Both Hong Kong and Macao are designated core cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development framework, a national initiative to integrate the two Special Administrative Regions with nine cities in Guangdong Province into a unified economic and financial zone. The revised agreement is positioned in part as support for that wider strategic objective, which includes the longer-term ambition of developing the region into an international financial hub.
A company official from the HKMA noted that the revised MoU lays a more solid foundation for deepening financial collaboration, pointing to financial infrastructure and information exchange as key new pillars. An AMCM representative referenced ongoing exploration in areas such as the bond market and financial infrastructure as examples of recent collaborative activity preceding the formal revision.
The update to the MoU signals a gradual expansion of cross-border regulatory coordination between Hong Kong and Macao, two jurisdictions that operate distinct financial and monetary systems under the 'one country, two systems' framework. For the broader payments and financial services ecosystem operating across the Greater Bay Area, closer regulatory alignment between the two authorities may facilitate more consistent oversight of cross-border financial flows, infrastructure interoperability, and data governance standards.
