Bonnie Chan: HKEX has always been thinking about how to enhance fundraising in the primary market and trading volume in the secondary market.

HKEX (00388) CEO Bonnie Chan said on a radio program that HKEX has always been thinking about how to enhance fundraising in the primary market and daily trading volume in the secondary market. She pointed out that an important topic in aligning with the national "15th Five-Year Plan" is to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international financial center, and HKEX plays an important role in this and will unhesitatingly make more contributions. Bonnie Chan believes that global investors have refocused their attention on Asia, especially the China market, and believe they must invest in China. These investors want diversified asset allocation rather than investing only in equities, so Hong Kong needs to build a diversified asset ecosystem covering equities, fixed income and currencies, commodities, and other products. On the primary market, Bonnie Chan mentioned that last year Hong Kong's IPO fundraising amount returned to first place globally. In 2025, a total of 119 new listings raised HK$286.9 billion, up 226% year on year. She believes Hong Kong must continuously improve its listing framework, because national development has nurtured various types of companies, and different companies have different financing needs. For example, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and new energy companies all need to invest substantial resources in research and development. To this end, Hong Kong has in recent years formulated dedicated listing chapters for relevant companies, including Chapter 18A of the Listing Rules for biotechnology companies and Chapter 18C for specialist technology companies. She described the results as immediate and very popular with the market. In 2025, a total of 21 companies listed under the Chapter 18 series. On the secondary market, Bonnie Chan said HKEX will continue to enhance stock market liquidity. In recent years, HKEX has optimized board lot sizes and implemented spread reform. The average daily turnover of the securities market rose from about HK$130 billion in 2024 to about HK$250 billion last year, and has further risen to more than HK$280 billion so far this year. She considers the situation encouraging. On commodities, Bonnie Chan pointed out that HKEX recently relaunched USD-denominated gold futures, which she described as drawing an enthusiastic response from investors, and said that launching RMB-denominated gold futures has been included in its considerations. Earlier this year, HKEX announced that from July 6 to June 30, 2027, it would waive market-wide trading fees for USD gold futures and launch incentive programs for liquidity providers and active traders. This is Hong Kong's fourth launch of gold futures since 1980. The 2017 round also launched both offshore RMB and USD dual-currency contracts at the same time, but it could not be sustained due to thin trading. In addition, Bonnie Chan mentioned that the London Metal Exchange (LME) now has more than 10 approved warehouses in Hong Kong, but that is still not enough. During LME Asia Week in May this year, she said that LME warehouses in Hong Kong had increased to 15, a sharp rise from 4 a year earlier, and storage capacity was already close to saturation.