Full agenda for Tong as HKEX chairman
- Attracting listings to the bourse from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions, and introducing trading when typhoon signal No 8 is in force are at the top of his list
From watchdog to operator, Carlson Tong Ka-shing will put on a very different hat as chairman of Asia’s third-largest stock market. As expected, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has picked the former chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) alongside CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting.
They have their work cut out for them. The bourse has suffered from low turnover and a decline in new listings.
Tong will bring to the role decades of experience in financial services and public policies. An independent non-executive director of HKEX since last April, he is plugged in to the exchange’s mission and strategy.
As SFC chairman from 2012 to 2018, he oversaw the 2014 introduction of the cross-border Stock Connect, providing a way for mainland investors to invest abroad, and for international funds to access China, all via Hong Kong. The scheme has since expanded to cover bonds and exchange-traded funds.
Transactions in what was once the world’s third-largest capital market have trickled to a multi-year low. The bourse was the go-to destination for IPOs in seven of the past 15 years.
Now it struggles to remain in the top 10. With interest rates at 5.25 per cent, investors have opted for more fixed deposits.