The Government announced today (December 24) that the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme will be further expanded starting from January 1, 2022. The arrangements are as follows: * extension of the opening hours of nine of the 1… read more
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) is presenting the free online family entertainment programme “What I am? Who I am?” by Hong Kong Circus under its “Cheers!” Series, enabling audience to enjoy fascinating programme at home. The first episode is now available on the department’s Edutainment Channel.
This five-episode programme is about an adventure involving puppet Kiki, mini potted plant Kelly and Monkey Lucky. They meet when Kiki passes by a forest on his journey to save the dying Kelly. The trio encounter obstacles such as bogs and fire dragons. With courage, they eventually overcome many other dangers in the quest to realise their wishes. Featuring circus entertainment such as theatre, acrobatics, aerial dance, fire stunts and contortions, the programme presents the exciting adventure story to audiences and brings out positive attitudes of exploring the unknown, offering help to others, courage and never giving up.
Founded in 2012, Hong Kong Circus is a performing arts group that strives to create unique performances by harmonising contemporary circus arts with multimedia elements. The group proactively promotes contemporary circus arts, and organises educational workshops and training schemes. Its recent works include “Hong Kong Movie-in-Dance”, “KIBO’s Journey of Rebirth”, “Grad in My Dream” and “Circus for Cheerful Christmas”.
“Cheers!” Series: “What I am? Who I am?” by Hong Kong Circus is conducted in Cantonese. Each episode is approximately five minutes long. To watch the programme, please visit the LCSD’s Edutainment Channel at www.lcsd.gov.hk/edutainment/en/performing_arts/page_645.html. Details and the release schedule of other episodes will be announced in due course on the programme website at www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/f_entertainment/programs_1263.html. For programme enquiries or more information, please call 2268 7323.
Another free online programme of the “Cheers!” Series is “BE Boy’s Adventure Time” by BE KIDS. For details, please visit
www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/multi_arts/programs_1240.html. read more
Hong Kong Customs yesterday (December 23) seized about 21 million suspected illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $57 million and a duty potential of about $40 million in Yuen Long. Two men were arrested.
During an anti-illicit cigarette operation conducted in San Tin, Yuen Long, yesterday afternoon, Customs officers seized the batch of suspected illicit cigarettes from two 40-foot containers at a container yard. Two men, aged 63 and 69, suspected to be connected to the case were arrested.
An investigation is ongoing. Customs will continue to trace the source and the flow of the illicit cigarettes. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.
Customs will continue to combat illicit cigarette activities on all fronts through intelligence analysis. The department will also step up enforcement during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession of, selling or buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.
Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has completed its annual assessment of the list of Domestic Systemically Important Authorized Institutions (D-SIBs). As with previous years, the assessment takes into account the size, interconnectedness, substitutability and complexity of authorised institutions. Based on the assessment results, the total number of D-SIBs has decreased from six to five. The Bank of East Asia, Limited is no longer identified as a D-SIB in this assessment considering its systemic importance relative to other institutions. The updated list of D-SIBs, which will take effect on January 1, 2022, is shown in the Annex.
Under the D-SIB framework, each of the authorised institutions designated as a D-SIB will be required to include a Higher Loss Absorbency (HLA) requirement into the calculation of its regulatory capital buffers within a period of 12 months after the formal notification of its designation. The HLA requirement applicable to a D-SIB (expressed as a ratio of an authorised institution’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital to its risk-weighted assets as calculated under the Banking (Capital) Rules) ranges between 1 per cent and 3.5 per cent (depending on the assessed level of the D-SIB’s systemic importance).
Compared to the list of D-SIBs published on December 30, 2020, there is no change to the HLA requirements applied to the five designated D-SIBs.
Further details about the decision can be found on the HKMA website (Systemically Important Authorized Institutions (SIBs)).
Background
(1) D-SIB framework in Hong Kong
The Banking (Capital) Rules and the HKMA’s regulatory framework for D-SIBs follow the provisions in “A framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks” issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in October 2012, by enabling the Monetary Authority (i) to designate an authorised institution as a D-SIB if the Monetary Authority considers the authorised institution to be of systemic importance in the context of the Hong Kong banking and financial system and (ii) to require an authorised institution designated as a D-SIB to be subject to an HLA capital buffer.
The rationale for imposing an HLA requirement on D-SIBs is to reduce any probability of them becoming non-viable. This is considered both prudent and justified in view of the greater impact that they could have, in the unlikely event of their failure, on the domestic financial system and the local economy more broadly.
(2) HLA requirement for authorised institutions designated as D-SIBs
The Monetary Authority is empowered under sections 3U and 3V of the Banking (Capital) Rules to designate D-SIBs and to determine an HLA requirement for each of these D-SIBs by reference to the degree of domestic systemic importance which the Monetary Authority assesses them to bear. To achieve this aim, the HKMA’s regulatory framework for D-SIBs provides for authorised institutions designated as D-SIBs to be allocated to different HLA “buckets”. This differentiated approach reflects the diversified nature and varying degrees of systemic importance of authorised institutions in Hong Kong.
The designated D-SIBs must apply the HLA in the calculation of their regulatory capital buffers within 12 months of the formal notification of their designation. There are five HLA buckets in total ranging from 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent. While only the first four buckets (i.e. from 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent) have been populated so far, the framework includes an empty 3.5 per cent bucket to encourage D-SIBs to refrain from becoming even more systemically important.
The HLA applied to a D-SIB serves (together with the Countercyclical Capital Buffer) as an extension of the Basel III Capital Conservation Buffer. Accordingly, if and when a D-SIB’s CET1 capital ratio falls within the extended buffer range, the D-SIB will be subject to restrictions on the discretionary distributions it may make. The effect of this is that D-SIBs will be required to retain earnings in order to bolster their regulatory capital. read more
​The Highways Department today (December 24) signed a contract with Build King – Richwell Engineering Joint Venture for the provision of universal accessibility (UA) facilities at footbridges, elevated walkways and subwa… read more