HKEX sees more women on boards but little progress on tenure cap rules
HKEX is using regulatory policies to promote gender diversity, including a listing rule that bans single-gender boards from January 2025
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has seen significant improvement in the gender diversity of listed companies but the bourse operator has not made progress in the area of mobility for independent directors, exchange data showed.
One in five listed companies in Hong Kong have boards where women comprise 30 per cent of members, HKEX chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing said on Friday.
“Gender diversity makes good business sense,” Tong said in a speech at a special gong-striking ceremony on Friday at the HKEX Connect Hall to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday.
“If corporate governance is about doing what makes good business sense in the long term, then gender diversity is good corporate governance.”
HKEX is using regulatory policies to promote gender diversity, including a listing rule that banned single-gender boards from January 2025.
As a result, only 21 – or 0.7 per cent of Hong Kong’s 2,709 listed companies – had no women on their boards as of February, according to HKEX data. Most of these either could not find a female director or their shares have been suspended for an extended period.