On 20 April 2023, the Faculty of Finance of the City University of Macau held the Finance Seminar Series [27] at the Ho Yin Convention Centre. Dr Chin Lam Chu, Chairman of Macau Asset Management Association, senior financial industry executive of 35-year industry experience, honorary chairman and vice-chairman of Macau associations and charitable organizations, and guest professor of the Faculty of Finance, University of Macau, was invited to deliver a speech titled “Analysis of Development of Wealth Management in Modern Financial Industry of Macau”. Guests attending this seminar include Mr. Lao, Director of Macau Asset Management Association, Mr. Ho, Chief Supervisor of Macau Asset Management Association and Supervisor of Macau Insurance Intermediaries Association, Ms. Lai, Vice Chairman of Macau Asset Management Association, Mr. Lei, Senior Regional Manager of AIA, Dean Adrian Cheung and Associate Dean Eva Khong of Faculty of Finance, City University of Macau.
Dr Chin Lam Chu first pointed out that gross revenue from gaming in March increased by more than 200% compared with the same period last year, while gross revenue from gaming in the first three months of the year reached over $30 billion, an annual increase of nearly 95%. He stated that at present, Macau's top priority is to properly diversify its economy into "1+4", and it is now adopting a "1+4" strategy to optimize its industrial structure, in which "1" refers to enriching the connotation of Macau as a world tourism and leisure center and developing a comprehensive tourism and leisure industry. Then, Dr. Chu introduced the four major industries, namely modern finance, high technology, one health, and culture, tourism, exhibition and trade. The current financial industry includes bond market, wealth management, financial leasing, RMB clearing, private equity and green finance.
Data show that in 2021, the RMB clearing volume in Macau reached 4.747 billion yuan, and 91 bonds listed in Macau were worth about 268.9 billion yuan. In the beginning of this year, the total amount of bonds issued and listed in Macau was more than 400 billion yuan. In terms of green finance, the balance of green loans increased by 18% on an annual basis, and local banks issued five green bonds with a stock market value of MOP 14.9 billion. According to the estimates from banking, trust, securities management, public funds, private funds and insurance industries, by the end of 2021, the total asset management scale of various institutions in China's wealth management industry has reached MOP 131.16 trillion, with 410,146 Macau wealth management customer accounts, and the market value of investment portfolios increased by 2.7% to MOP 225.1 billion. The wealth management households held by Macau residents accounted for 83.5%, with a portfolio market value of MOP 188 billion, while the number of non-resident accounts accounted for 16.5%, with a portfolio market value of MOP 37.1 billion.
To arouse students' interest, Dr Chu quoted a number of newspapers and media information to explain the political, economic, social and cultural, technological, environmental, legal and other factors, so as to explain the macro environment of wealth management. He suggested that through trust law legislation in future, the financial industry should play an important role in wealth management business to meet business opportunities, use large insurance policies to attract people with a high net worth in the Greater Bay Area and ASEAN to manage wealth in trust, take advantage of Hong Kong's proximity to a world-class financial centre, strengthen cooperation between the two places to enhance and develop the modern financial industry, and propose the establishment of the Macau Institute of Wealth Inheritance in the future to provide personnel training services for industry practitioners.
At the end of the sharing session, students took this valuable opportunity to actively pose questions related to insurance and wealth management business and Dr Chin Lam Chu answered in detail. In the Seminar, the students paid attention to the current situation and future trends of asset management and wealth management in Macao, the Greater Bay Area and even the international community, and gained a lot through the financial seminar series. The students also expressed their expectations for the sharing of the next finance seminar.
