Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chief executive Charles Li Xiaojia has issued a 10,000-word public letter hitting back at criticism from local brokers of his reform plans.
The reforms, which include a move to cut brokers' lunch break to one hour from March next year, are unpopular with some brokers.
Li, however, said they are necessary to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness and to capture business opportunities related to the internationalisation of the yuan.
'Hong Kong is no longer the only listing platform for mainland enterprises, as other markets are competing for these companies,' Li wrote. 'The HKEx is also facing an increasing number of competitors, such as the new electronic trading platforms known as dark pools.
'Hong Kong's market has a lot of weaknesses in its infrastructure and unless we carry out the reform plan we will lose out to the others.'
The letter signals Li's determination to push through the reforms despite the street protests of hundreds of small brokers two weeks ago that urged the exchange to abandon its reform plans. The top complaint is about the extended trading hours.
In March, the market's opening time was brought forward by half an hour, while the traditional two-hour lunch was cut by 30 minutes. From March next year, the lunch break will be cut to one hour, matching that of international markets.
