What will it take to reform the territory's most profitable guild? The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong is a limited company owned by 563 members, a majority of whom oppose major reform.
A legislated monopoly insulated from the worst ravages of competition through the fixed commission system, members are not surprisingly reluctant to change.
Still, cartel busting and competition issues figure increasingly highly on the Government's agenda, explaining the offer to scrap stamp duty in return for flexible commissions. Now, the debate is stalled with brokers seemingly hardened against the proposal.
Arguments have been framed in terms of narrow minded, money grubbing brokers fighting the forces of history sweeping away cosy closed shops, ruled by a self-regulation code. The time has come for the Government to swing a big stick, allowing control to be released from the narrow interest group politics of brokers, the modernisers argue.
Their argument has the moral authority of consumer empowerment and wider economic efficiency as competition hots up from rival financial centres offering dual listings and parallel derivative trading.
Increasingly, the exchange is the preserve of the entire community whose savings are invested and traded. Quite why the rest of us should subsidise a few hundred brokers is, admittedly, hard to see.
Hold on cry the brokers, things aren't that bad. When Jardine companies de-listed in Hong Kong and moved to Singapore, the authorities were forced to offer special Hong Kong rates of commission to make them competitive with the territory.