HKiNEDA: Hong Kong independent directors have the highest salary gap of up to 2040 times, with the financial industry being the highest paid industry.

The Hong Kong Independent Non-Executive Directors Association (HKiNEDA) has released the results of a survey on independent non-executive directors of Hong Kong listed companies in 2025. The survey shows that the industry to which a company belongs significantly influences the compensation of independent directors, with the financial industry being the highest paying industry, while the information technology and industrial industries are relatively lower. Some independent directors in Hong Kong have compensation levels far above the market average, with the top 5 earners ranging from HK$2.92 million to HK$12.97 million annually, with the highest number being about 50 times the industry average. In contrast, the lowest paid independent director earns only HK$6,000, with the lowest 5 earners earning HK$12,000 or less. The highest paid independent director earns about 2040 times the lowest paid. The data shows that there are about 6,722 independent non-executive directors holding a total of 8,442 independent non-executive director positions in the market. On average, each listed company has about 3.2 independent directors. In 2024, there were six people who served as independent directors in 7 or more listed companies at the same time. In terms of compensation, in 2024, the annual average compensation for independent non-executive directors of main board listed companies in Hong Kong was HK$269,697, with a median of HK$212,020. For Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) companies, the average annual compensation for independent non-executive directors was HK$132,976, about half of the main board level. There is a significant gap in the compensation of independent directors in companies of different market values, with large companies with a market value exceeding HK$50 billion having an average compensation level nearly three times that of micro-enterprises with a market value of less than HK$2 billion. The differences in industry compensation are also very noticeable, with the financial services industry leading with an average compensation of HK$339,832, about 60% higher than the information technology industry's HK$213,890. Yang Zhida pointed out that the IT industry can attract independent director talent and increase compensation by referring to Tencent's stock option case. He believes that for IT companies with limited financial resources and no ability to provide high cash compensation, they can use this method to attract excellent independent director talent by using stock options to compensate. In terms of age characteristics, the average age of independent directors in 2024 was 57.95 years, a decrease of 1.28 years compared to 2023, showing a trend towards a younger age structure. Independent directors generally tend to be older, with the oldest being 94 years old and the youngest being 25 years old. When asked about the issue of the lowest paid independent director earning only HK$6,000, Huang Wei said that the specific circumstances are difficult to speculate on, and the compensation may be related to poor company profitability and low payment capacity; independent director compensation is also influenced by macro factors such as market value, industry, as well as micro factors such as expertise, scarcity of positions, and there is no unified standard, with cases of independent directors serving without compensation in the market. When asked about the impact of the new regulations on independent directors, Association President Yang Zhida stated that the new regulations have increased the requirements for independent directors in internal control, risk management, etc., and that director training has explicitly outlined 5 necessary topics, as well as introducing new requirements for board performance evaluations, which are expected to increase the workload or working time of independent directors by 10%-20%. Regarding the increased workload, he mentioned that they have expressed demands to review compensation with listed companies, but there are currently no clear expectations for salary increases as there is a lack of full year statistical data, and they need objective market data as a basis for negotiations. This year's survey covered 2,637 listed companies in the Hong Kong stock market, including 2,307 main board listed companies and 330 GEM listed companies. Researchers used artificial intelligence technology to significantly shorten processing time and expand the number of surveyed companies compared to traditional manual operations. Most importantly, this corrected the data bias caused by sampling surveys, greatly increasing the accuracy of the research conclusions. The Association pointed out that as a core element of corporate governance, the independence and professionalism of independent directors are crucial for protecting the rights of small and medium shareholders, and supervising and standardizing corporate governance. Due to regulatory requirements and professional development needs, the compensation structure and composition of boards are increasingly being scrutinized. This research aims to enhance transparency in corporate governance of listed companies and promote the long-term healthy development of capital market governance.