Shenzhen exchange’s role in Greater Bay Area vital as it remains the go-to listing hub for start-ups, SMEs, adviser says

‘Shenzhen Stock Exchange will continue to be a powerhouse for SME and tech shares, much like Nasdaq,’ adviser Anthony Neoh says

The bourse had the highest turnover in Asia in the first quarter, nearly three times the stock trading volume in Hong Kong

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Shenzhen Stock Exchange was Asia’s busiest bourse with an overall trading volume of US$4.39 trillion in the first quarter. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:30am, 13 May 2021Updated: 8:49am, 13 May 2021

Shenzhen Stock Exchange will continue to be a magnet for small and medium-sized enterprises and tech firms like the Nasdaq in the US and has a vital role in the Greater Bay Area, according to Anthony Francis Neoh, who helped to set up the exchange in 1990.

While the bourse may not be popular with many homegrown mega tech firms, which tend to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai, it plays a vital role in helping start-up firms to raise funds, he added. Its growth into Asia’s busiest trading venue has helped turn many of their founders into billionaires.

Robin Zeng Yuqun, the founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles, briefly overtook Li Ka-shing as the wealthiest person in Hong Kong with a net worth at US$34.5 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires’ ranking on May 5.

Li Xiting, founder and chairman of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, a supplier of medical devices, is the richest man in his adopted country Singapore with a net worth of US$24.1 billion, while co-founder Xu Hang is the fourth-richest man in Hong Kong, with a net worth at US$21.7 billion, according to Forbes .

Anthony Francis Neoh, a former chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, was instrumental in setting up the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Photo: May Tse

“Shenzhen Stock Exchange will continue to be a powerhouse for SME and tech shares, much like Nasdaq,” Neoh, who now serves as an adviser to the bourse, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “The Hong Kong stock exchange is now somewhat like the New York Stock Exchange with larger-cap stocks.”