Speaking at the FIX APAC Trading Summit in Hong Kong, Joseph Chan, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has reported a successful bounce back for trading after US-induced market volatility in early Q2.
“Despite the volatility in April due to tariff related tensions, the Hong Kong market has rebounded strongly,” he said. “During April, the average daily turnover exceeded HK$270 million, marking a 1.4 fold increase compared to the same period last year. Our IPO market is also regaining momentum. Just this week, Hong Kong welcomed the listing of a leading mainland new energy company, the world’s largest IPO this year, and this single listing put Hong Kong IPO proceeds for this year to over HK$60 billion [US$7.7 billion], more than six times the amount raised during the same period last year. We currently rank first globally for company listings.”
According to Bloomberg data, Hong Kong was in third place for IPOs in the first four months of 2025, behind the US and Japan.
“Hong Kong’s role as a super connector is more relevant than ever,” said Chan. “We are actively shaping cross border financial connectivity between the mainland and global markets.”
He cited the expanded scope of eligible ETFs under Stock Connect came into effect in July last year, with 85 new mainland ETFs and six Hong Kong ETFs added, bringing the total to more than 240 eligible products, and increased accessibility in delegation of investment management functions to distributed overseas managers, to support more cross-border product offerings.
“The results speak for themselves,” he said. “In the first four months this year, the average daily trade value of northbound trading of Shanghai Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen Hong Kong Stock Connect were RMB87.2 billion [US$ 12.1 billion] and RMB98.1 billion [US$13.6 billion] respectively. Southbound trading brought average daily values of HK$68.9 billion [US$ 8.8 billion] and HK$43.5 billion [5.6 billion] respectively. Since its launch, southbound Stock Connect has generated over HK$4.3 trillion [US$ 551.1 billion] in net inflows to the Hong Kong Stock Market.”
Chan noted that the SAR had fought to be innovative in delivering a framework for new markets structures, such as the delivery of distributed ledger technology to through the securities lifecycle. This began in February 2023, when Hong Kong claimed to be the world’s first government issuing tokenized green bonds. This transaction applied distributed ledger technology across the bond lifecycle, from primary insurance to coupon payment and secondary trading.
“Yesterday, we welcomed the passage of the rules establishing a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong,” he said. “The ordinance has established a risk based, pragmatic and flexible regulatory regime. We believe that a robust and fit-for-purpose regulatory environment will provide favourable conditions to support the healthy, responsible and sustainable development of Hong Kong stablecoin and the broader digital asset ecosystem. Indeed, we will also soon release a second policy statement on virtual asset development this year outlining how Hong Kong will continue to leverage its future international finance and innovation technologies to support the real economy and attract global players in the virtual asset space.”
Linking many international investors with mainland China markets , he said that innovation in more traditional securities had also been key to supporting the region’s status.
