Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund earned a record HK$331 billion (US$42.4 billion) of investment income in 2025 as the artificial intelligence boom buoyed markets.
The fund’s income from investments in local and foreign equities was HK$108 billion, and income from fixed income was HK$142 billion. It also gained HK$38 billion from currency fluctuations of assets denominated in foreign currency.
The Exchange Fund serves as Hong Kong’s foreign reserves to defend the value of the local dollar. It’s managed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s de facto central bank, which released the figures in a statement on January 28.
The return on the fund’s investments rose to 8% last year from 5.3% in 2024.
Eddie Yue, chief executive of the HKMA, noted that global financial markets recovered in the second half of 2025 after a volatile first six months when wide-ranging US tariffs on imports triggered trade tensions.
“As we entered the second half of the year, the investment environment improved notably, bolstered by the smaller-than-expected impact from trade conflicts as well as the swift advancement of artificial intelligence technology which attracted investment flows,” he says in the statement.
He adds that the HKMA will continue to manage the Exchange Fund with “prudence and flexibility, implement appropriate defensive measures, and maintain a high degree of liquidity”.
The fund had HK$4.1 trillion of assets as of end-December, up from HK$4.08 trillion a year earlier.
