The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has published the findings of its bi-annual survey into the banking sector's exposure to structured products and found the overall exposure of authorised institutions (AIs) to structured credit products and credit derivatives remains "insignificant".

The surveys collate data on AIs exposures to selected debt securities, securitisation and derivatives transactions, including credit derivatives.

The findings cover the period between December 2008 and June 2009 and found the exposure of the banking sector as a whole to complex structured products amounted to HK$66bn - which represented 0.6% of AIs total assets.

It reported that of the 161 AIs participating in the survey on 30 were exposed to structured securities, with the top five (mainly foreign) banks accounting for 80.7% of total market value. In general these were simple securitisation products such as MBSs, and although AIs investment in Islamic finance has grown rapidly in the rest of the world, AIs investment in Sukuk in HK remains insignificant.