Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (0388)

[weijian]

The new HKEX CEO is an internal promotion, a change from the previous Nicolas Aguzin, a JP Morgan investment banker who was parachuted in. Phase1 by Charles Li (ex ex CEO) was to connect Chinese companies with the world's capital. Now is Bonnie Chan executing Phase2 by connecting the world's companies to Chinese capital?

Hong Kong bourse seeks to woo South-east Asia, Middle East firms for second listings

“We’re now more focused on companies which are actually already listed on another market, but might have outgrown their domestic market,” said Chan, a former capital markets lawyer, who took over as HKEX’s first female CEO last year. “I am now beginning to realise that our sweet spot may not be private companies.”

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...d-listings

[weijian]

Southbound traffic has been on a tear. The claim down will continue to benefit the official channels.

China traders rush for exit after cross-border flow crackdown

The crackdown marks an escalation from late 2022, when China ordered online brokers to rectify illegal business activities and stop onboarding new onshore investors, signalling growing impatience with the cross-border flows. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the nation’s top securities watchdog, on Friday slapped more than US$330 million of combined fines on Futu, Up Fintech Holding’s Tiger Brokers and Longbridge Securities for operating on the mainland without a license.

Investors such as Daisy Qin have managed to circumvent the 2022 directive and set up new accounts using falsified documentation. Qin, a bank employee in Chengdu, said that she opened an account with Futu last year using the address details of a Hong Kong friend so she could subscribe to initial public offerings in the city.

For Chen Li, CEO of Soochow Securities (Hong Kong) Financial Holdings, forcing the assets back to official channels such as Hong Kong’s stock connect and Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) schemes will make it much easier to tax citizens on their overseas assets. Moreover, it sets the ground for potentially more financial opening.

“The ‘room cleaning’ does not mean China will kick offshore financial institutions all out, but rather it’s rectifying market order, and laying the foundation for compliant opening up in the future,” Chen said in written comments. “It’s not shutting all doors, just closing a small one in order to open a wider gate.”

Some savvy investors already got the message. Tom, who works for a technology firm in Beijing, said that he will now shift his two million yuan worth of Hong Kong and US stock holdings to the official stock connect and QDII fund products.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...-crackdown