Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Sunday said Hong Kong could enhance its position as a cross-border supply chain management centre.

Writing on his weekly blog, Chan noted that many of the 50,000 medium sized manufacturing enterprises in Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas have offshoring needs.

He said Hong Kong's one-stop services in trade finance, consulting – as well as talent and business training – would attract these companies to set up regional headquarters in the SAR to manage offshore trade.

He added that Hong Kong was prepared to seize the opportunities arising from shifts in the global trade landscape, with traditional markets becoming less important and new ones emerging.

“Hong Kong has a solid foundation in trade and related professional services, and is well-positioned to capture the opportunities arising from such changes. The key is to focus on providing more efficient business and professional services to help companies manage their supply chains and value chains more effectively,” he said.

The financial secretary also noted that so far 26 banks and 13 data providers had joined a data interchange programme launched by the Monetary Authority.

“With the authorisation of the enterprises, the participating banks can obtain trade-related data more quickly, simplifying the loan approval process,” he said.

“As of the end of last year, this arrangement had facilitated more than 13,000 loan applications and reviews, with the total credit approval amount estimated at over HK$11.7 billion.”