HONG KONG – The contribution of the financial services sector to Hong Kong's gross domestic product increased from 20 percent in 2007 to 22 percent in 2022, according to the Census and Statistics Department.
Within the financial services sector, the banking industry has been playing a pivotal role, the department said in the April issue of Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics released on Tuesday.
In 2022, despite the COVID-19 epidemic situation, the average value added brought about by each person engaged in the sector still amounted to some HK$2.27 million.
Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR
A high-value-added sector, financial services employed 269,700 persons, or 7 percent of total employment in Hong Kong in 2022.
Value added of the sector amounted to HK$613.4 billion, or 22 percent of nominal GDP at basic prices. Between 2020 and 2022, value added of the sector rose by 2 percent, whereas employment decreased by 2 percent, according to the data.
“In 2022, despite the COVID-19 epidemic situation, the average value added brought about by each person engaged in the sector still amounted to some HK$2.27 million,” reads the monthly statistics digest.
This was much higher than the corresponding figures for the other three key industries in Hong Kong – trading and logistics (HK$1.04 million), professional and other producer services (HK$0.54 million), and tourism (HK$0.37 million), it added.
In 2022, the banking industry – which consists of the banking industry, insurance industry and other financial services industries – accounted for 36 percent and 69 percent respectively of the total employment and value added in respect of the entire financial services sector, it added.
The industry employed 97,600 persons in 2022, or 3 percent of total employment in Hong Kong.
The insurance industry, comprising life insurance underwriting, non-life insurance underwriting, and activities auxiliary to insurance and pension funding, employed 71,000 persons, or 2 percent of the total employment in the city during the year.
In the same year, other financial services industries covering investment and holding companies and trusts, funds and similar financial entities; financial leasing and credit granting; and financial service activities without loan making, together employed 101,100 persons, or 3 percent of total employment in Hong Kong.
Their value added amounted to HK$92.4 billion, or 3 percent of nominal GDP at basic prices.
Meanwhile, total receipts of investment and holding companies and trusts, funds, and similar financial entities increased from HK$366.8 billion in 2020 to HK$417.1 billion in 2022.
This group continued to account for the largest proportion of total receipts of the “other financial services industries” in 2022, at 61 percent.
Compared with other groups in the “other financial services industries”, one distinct feature of this group was that most of its total receipts came from dividends.
Total receipts of stock and share companies, investment banks, and fund management firms in 2022 came from commissions for trading securities and other financial products and fund management fees. These firms recorded year-on-year increase of 7 percent and 14 percent in 2020 and 2021 respectively, whereas year-on-year decrease of 11 percent was recorded in 2022.
According to the data, the transportation, storage, postal, and courier services sector continued to play a significant role in Hong Kong’s economy in 2022, accounting for 7.5 percent of the GDP at current basic prices.
