HKEX adds Chinese finance sector heavyweights to new advisory group, as it seeks bigger role in growing mainland market

Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has tapped three mainland Chinese finance sector heavyweights for a new advisory group that will help it develop its China strategy.

Fred Hu Zuliu, Primavera Capital Group’s founding chairman, Ma Weihua, China Merchants Bank’s former president, and Zhang Lei, who founded Hillhouse Capital Management, are all part of the Mainland China Advisory Group, which was set up on Thursday. The group will help to steer HKEX, which operates Asia’s third largest stock market, towards a deeper role in growing the mainland Chinese capital market.

“China anchored is at the core of HKEX’s strategy. We are committed to further elevating the role of HKEX and Hong Kong as the key facilitator in China’s connectivity with international markets,” Laura Cha Shih May-lung, HKEX’s chairwoman, said in a statement. Cha will act as chairwoman of the advisory group, which also includes HKEX’s new CEO, Nicolas Aguzin, as well as non-executive director Zhang Yichen, who is chairman and CEO of Citic Capital. The group will meet several times a year.

The appointments came at a critical time for Hong Kong, after China’s State Council said on Tuesday that it was going to tighten regulations governing Chinese companies listing overseas, which may have an impact on the city, according to brokers. China is important to HKEX, as more than 80 per cent of the market capitalisation and turnover of companies listed in Hong Kong depends on the mainland.