The Monetary Authority of Macao published an update on how it is implementing the Macao SAR Government’s 2025 policy agenda for the financial sector, with an emphasis on optimising the local bond market ecosystem and modernising the legal framework for investment funds as new drivers of industry growth. The update also covers recent infrastructure upgrades to support payments and digital finance, alongside continued work to strengthen Macao’s role as a financial services platform linking China and Portuguese-speaking countries. A direct network service between the Central Securities Depository of Macao and Hong Kong’s Central Moneymarkets Unit, launched in January 2025, is positioned as a key step in connecting the two bond market infrastructures and broadening the investor base for Macao issuances. The authority highlighted a pipeline of “high quality” bonds issued in Macao, including sovereign bonds and local government bonds from Guangdong Province and Shenzhen, and reported that by end-October 2025 Macao had recorded more than 1,000 bond issuances issued or listed with cumulative value exceeding MOP 1,000 billion. On funds, it noted that a revised Investment Funds Law was promulgated in July 2025 and is intended to align more closely with international supervisory approaches, strengthen investor protection, broaden the range of investment instruments and remove operational barriers for fund management; three fund management companies are registered to establish in Macao, the first public offering fund has been set up and two private offering funds have completed registration. Separately, the authority reported completing upgrades to real-time gross settlement systems for MOP, HKD and RMB, signing a memorandum with the People’s Bank of China to promote interconnection of fast payment systems, and progressing the “Macao Digital Pataca” project with the core system built and small-scale transaction testing underway in a sandbox. The Investment Funds Law is scheduled to enter into force next year, while work continues on the fast payments interconnection and on expanding Digital Pataca testing within predefined sandbox scenarios.

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