The government has failed to persuade the Democrats that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) should remain the regulator of listed companies.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang yesterday met with Democratic Party financial affairs spokesman Sin Chung-kai to try to gain support for the government's position.
'The Democrats will consider Mr Ma's comments, but we still insist HKEx should follow the London Stock Exchange, which passed its regulatory job to the Financial Services Authority last year to avoid conflicts of interest,' Mr Sin said after the meeting.
The debate over HKEx's regulatory role has been under the spotlight again since Mr Ma said last week he wanted the exchange to remain as front-line regulator but would keep the independent listing committee to curb its power.
The Democrats and Justice Anthony Rogers - chairman of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform - have urged Mr Ma to go further and pass the role of regulating companies on to the Securities and Futures Commission.
Mr Rogers also suggested an alternative solution whereby the role of the listing committee would be expanded to turn it into an independent body responsible for listing regulation.
