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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), which operates Asia’s third-largest stock market, will establish two international offices over the next year to reach out to more overseas investors and market the city as a fundraising destination, according to its chief executive.
One of the offices will be in Europe and the other in the US, Nicolas Aguzin told the Post in an exclusive interview from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum. The exact locations will be announced at a later date, and they will be the first HKEX offices outside Asia. It currently has a presence in Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai.
“What we’re trying to do is to be that bridge between China and the world,” Aguzin said by phone. “Today some 43 per cent of our investors are international investors, and so we have to be close to them. As we move to becoming a client-led business, we need to better serve our international clients, to address their needs.”
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He said that the purpose of the new offices was to provide services and support to international companies.
“We don’t want just to be a fundraising hub looking for international capital for Chinese companies. We want to be much more than that. We want to be able to provide to international companies the ability to come to an exciting market like ours, to raise money and raise their profile.”
Hong Kong has been a successful fundraising platform for mainland Chinese companies. Some 1,370 mainland firms are listed here, representing 78 per cent of the market capitalisation. In contrast, HKEX only has 158 international companies listed on the main board, representing 5.1 per cent of the total.
Aguzin, the first non-Chinese to head HKEX, completes one year as the CEO on May 24.
The former JPMorgan banker has introduced many reforms, including allowing listings of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in January, which has attracted about a dozen applications.
In October, he introduced the first Chinese onshore share futures product, known as MSCI China A 50 Connect Index Futures, which is aimed at global investors seeking to hedge their risks on stocks trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Two weeks ago, the HKEX launched derivatives holiday trading, allowing international investors to continue to trade futures products during holidays in Hong Kong.
“We have to continue diversifying our base. We need to have more derivatives and more international products,” he said.
Aguzin, who is attending the forum with HKEX chairwoman Laura Cha Shih May-lung and head of listing Bonnie Chan, kicked off HKEX’s revitalised international outreach programme. They will have 50 bilateral meetings with clients and government officials and speak at 45 different forums on a range of topics.
The Argentina-born CEO spent the whole of April on the mainland, meeting officials and counterparts in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Prior to Davos, he was in the US and will visit London next before heading back to Hong Kong.
“I plan to visit more customers and stakeholders around the world in the months to come. It is very important to tell the world that Hong Kong continues to be an international city and we continue to connect China with the world,” he said.
“I do think that putting our story out there trying to tell the world of what is going on in [Hong Kong’s] financial sector is very important.”
Aguzin, however, admitted there were headwinds ahead. “Many countries are kind of starting to look inward, that is a worry,” he said. The other worry, he added, was the border, which has not yet fully reopened.
In London, he plans to meet the staff of London Metal Exchange. It comes after the HKEX’s wholly owned subsidiary was forced to cancel trades and suspend nickel trading for a week in early March as a surge in prices threatened to destabilise the market.
“I am going to be discussing the events that led up to the nickel situation and try to understand how we can improve the market,” he said.
“I actually see the situation at LME as a great opportunity to implement certain market reforms. While this is definitely a big challenge, it [also] is a big opportunity.”
More from South China Morning Post:
- Casino firm Macau Legend, CStone Pharmaceuticals join property firms on list of 32 companies failing to file annual results, HKEX data shows
- HKEX boss Nicolas Aguzin eyes digital trading platform, ETF connect schemes and overseas offices as part of growth plan
- Aquila Acquisition gets HKEX approval, moving Hong Kong’s first blank-cheque listing closer to reality
- Hong Kong stock exchange operator HKEX posts record US$1.6 billion profit for 2021 as daily turnover soars
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