1 - Introduction

Summary

Throughout Hong Kong’s history, financial markets and their regulation have evolved with financial crises. Every significant financial crisis in Hong Kong has pivoted on liquidity in either or both the banking and monetary systems.¹ Accordingly, liquidity support has played a prominent and critical role in managing Hong Kong’s financial stability. From the beginning, the lender of last resort was the primary means of managing banks’ liquidity and solvency, with funding being sourced from the private sector. Although the government has assumed this role over the past 30 years, there is yet to be a need for this support. With the modernization of financial markets, banks have become susceptible to funding and market liquidity. These liquidity risks were exemplified in the 2008–9 global financial crisis (GFC) and resurfaced, to a lesser extent, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.