David Liao, co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East at HSBC, on Thursday said the bank’s commitment to operating in the Middle East remains unchanged despite the conflicts in the region.

“The key for us serving the area is to maintain resilience and continue to serve our clients, their consideration of their supply chain, their balance sheet protection as well as just serving the safety of the people,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the HSBC Global Investment Summit.

On HSBC being among the first institutions granted a stablecoin issuer licence in Hong Kong, Liao said the bank will explore the use of the cryptocurrency in both the retail and wholesale sectors.

Liao added that the bank is also keen on the development of other forms of digital assets.

“We are not only focusing on the stablecoin; we have been front and centre in the exploration of central bank digital currencies, tokenised deposits, tokenised gold and digital bonds,” he said.

He also pointed to the sustainability bonds the bank helped the government issue as part of efforts to build a “fit-for-purpose, future-proof financial structure”.

HSBC plans to launch its HKD-pegged stablecoin in the second half of the year, integrating it with its PayMe platform and mobile banking app.

In the initial phase, users will be able to conduct peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions on PayMe, as well as make tokenised investments via the HSBC app.



Edited by Thomas McAlinden