Hong Kong bourse operator CEO Nicolas Aguzin struggles to understand why trading halts during bad weather
- Some of the rules governing Hong Kong stock exchange seem antiquated as the global finance industry adjusts to remote working amid the pandemic
- While Aguzin has not indicated changes are imminent, he says there must be a way ‘where we can make sure that when people trade, the market is open’
Whenever inclement weather hits Hong Kong early in the morning, the city’s stock traders turn to the local observatory website to see if they need to go to work or not.
Hong Kong has a detailed series of weather alerts that determine whether businesses, schools and public transport operate. This includes the stock market – the world’s third largest and where more than US$24 billion worth of shares change hands on average every day.
“I was like, we are not opening? What’s happening?” Aguzin said, describing his reaction to being told the US$6.8 trillion market would not open because the black rainstorm signal was raised on June 28.
Aguzin did not indicate any changes will be imminent. But his comments illustrate how some of the rules governing the bourse are looking increasingly antiquated as the global finance industry adjusts to remote working amid the pandemic. The stock market only reopened in the afternoon on June 28 as rain abated. Last year, it closed for half a day in August and a whole day in October when tropical storms neared.
“People are already used to working from home,” Aguzin told a seminar at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center on Thursday. “The first question that I had was, should we leverage everything that we have learnt to find a way to see how we can continue operating?”