HongKong

How Hong Kong's finance sector is becoming more Chinese


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HUDSON LOCKETT: A sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing is redefining politics in Hong Kong. The febrile atmosphere in the city is also making it a less attractive place for expat bankers, except perhaps for those working at Chinese banks, which were targeted in last year’s demonstrations.

We’ve taken a close look whether the political convulsions in Hong Kong are accelerating the mainlandization of its financial sector. In other words, is Hong Kong’s finance sector becoming more Chinese?

At the end of July, bankers at Chinese firms totaled more than 2,100. That’s a massive rise from [? 2,013. ?] At the current rate, bankers at Chinese firms will soon outnumber everyone else.

That makes sense when you consider that Hong Kong stock exchange now outshines New York as the premier platform for Chinese companies that want to raise dollar funding. Chinese listings in the US actually grew by a quarter this year to over 3 billion, but the value of listings in Hong Kong has doubled to more than 18 billion. And Hong Kong’s stock market is set to benefit even more from fraying US-China ties, as hawks in Washington push to delist Chinese companies that don’t comply with American accounting standards.

A divesting is on the cards for virtually every Chinese company that listed on Wall Street. Many have set up secondary share placements in Hong Kong as a fallback option. And unsurprisingly, it’s the Chinese banks who dominate those deals and the IPOs of up and coming Chinese tech groups.

This year, Beijing backed CICC and state run China Merchants Bank are the top book runners for listings in Hong Kong. Both have more than one billion worth of deals to their name so far this year. The only Western bank to break the top 10 is UBS.

Hong Kong is starting to look less like a global financial nexus and more like an offshore centre for Chinese finance.



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