The Malta Financial Services Authority and its Hong Kong counterpart, the Securities and Futures Commission, are considering increasing collaboration on regulatory matters following a meeting between the heads of the two authorities which took place in Hong Kong today.

The Department of Information said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is in Hong Kong to attend the Symposium EU-Asia Relations in Financial Services, which is taking place between today and Friday.

He was accompanied by MFSA chairman Joseph Bannister, and the two met representatives of the SFC, including CEO Ashley Alder, who was quoted as saying that the Maltese financial services sector had a great potential.

The DOI said that during the meeting, ways in which to facilitate trade between Malta and Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China and thus enjoys a high degree of autonomy, was discussed.

The meeting was also attended by Dr Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri and by Malta's ambassador to China Clifford Borg-Marks.