In the recent appearance, Bonnie Y Chan, the CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited(HKEX), pointed out that 100 companies are currently applying for listing on the HKEX, and that big IPOs are expected to rebound. All these underlying motivations behind it show Hong Hong Kong’s ambition to consolidate its position as Asia’s leading financial centre.

1. Companies queue for listings in Hong Kong

Entering 2024, listing applications have surged in HKEX. Since the beginning of last month, HKEX has received about 100 new listing applications, with Mainland companies accounting for the majority of them. Particularly since 19 April, there are enterprises submitting listing applications on almost every working day. Under waves of different types of companies going global, listing Chinese companies in Hong Kong has become the epitome trend.

2. Plummeting stock prices on consecutive 10 trading days

Apart from the wave of listings, the low valuation of stocks in the Hong Kong market is also one of the key factors attracting funds. Before this rally, the valuation of the Hong Kong stock market was the lowest level of the world’s major stock markets. Under multiple favourable factors, the global capital is rushing to the Hong Kong stock market, thus making the Hong Kong stock market show a major upward trend.

3. Seizing the golden opportunity and embarking on a journey towards building wealth

According to Global Wealth Report 2023 released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG): Hong Kong’s fund management industry will overtake Switzerland to as the world’s largest hub for cross-border private wealth management by 2027. According to the data, Hong Kong has about 2,000 licensed asset management companies in 2023, (compared to 1,194 in Singapore). Assets under management in Hong Kong amount to about US$2.2 trillion (US$1.5 trillion in Singapore).

It should be noted that in the end of February, the Hong Kong Government announced cancellation of all tightening measures related to additional stamp duty. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s monetary authority has relaxed the city’s decade-old lending curbs in the real estate market.

In Conclusion

The Hong Kong Government has adopted a mix of measures to boost its real estate market, such as “Investment Immigration”, “Stringent Market Cooling Tactics”, “New Plan to Boost Hong Kong IPOs”, etc. All these efforts show Hong Kong’s “ambition”. Globally, Hong Kong showcases golden investment opportunities to attract high-net-worth individuals.