FSDC Urges Hong Kong Market Reforms to Keep Capital-Raising Hub Competitive

Hong Kong market reforms are needed to keep the city a leading capital-raising hub as markets digitise and competition among financial centres intensifies, the Financial Services Development Council said.

In a concept paper, the FSDC urged Hong Kong market reforms to deepen liquidity beyond equities, spanning fixed income, private-market assets and offshore yuan products, alongside infrastructure upgrades to speed settlement and support multi-asset, multi-currency issuance.

The paper also proposed clearer entry pathways for multinationals and IP-intensive firms, including refinements to weighted voting rights rules and Connect schemes, while backing safeguarded tokenisation.

Further Hong Kong market reforms include incentives for corporate bond market-making, selective extensions of central clearing, and more efficient data and onboarding.

Vice-chair Andrew Weir said Hong Kong should deepen financial ties with the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other regions.