Hong Kong needs to raise its corporate governance standards and beef up co-operation with the mainland if it is to maintain its advantage as a financial centre, a senior regulator has warned.
Securities and Futures Commission executive director Ashley Alder said mainland firms already accounted for half of Hong Kong's initial public offerings.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission was making serious efforts to address problems in the mainland's stock markets so Hong Kong could not rest on its laurels if it wished to remain an attractive place to list.
'To remain credible with the mainland and with overseas institutional investors we must be seen to be serious about corporate governance,' Mr Alder told the Chinese University's third Symposium on Corporate Governance and Disclosure yesterday.
Mr Alder called for increased liaison with Chinese authorities on corporate governance issues. 'The mainland challenge is something we need to get to grips with pretty quickly. We need to work out what Hong Kong really is,' he said.
'Investors should know this is a quality market and companies have to adhere to [these standards], and that if they don't we will do something about it.'