Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (0388)

[CityFarmer]

What is holding up the authorities? The recent protest in HK, is definitely one of the reasons...

China’s Missing Exchange Link Leaves Traders in Limbo

Andy Maynard, the global head of trading and execution at CLSA Ltd., had expected to be making his first trades through the Hong Kong-Shanghai exchange link by now.

Instead, after six months of preparation for a start date that regulators indicated would be this month, CLSA, like more than 90 other Hong Kong brokerages that plan to participate in the program, is still in the dark about when it will begin. Even Charles Li, the chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (388), says he has no idea when authorities will give the green light to proceed.
...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-26...limbo.html

[specuvestor]

IMHO we probably won't see through-train this year

I think the thru train might be delayed for some time as signalling to the HKers:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10...nghai-link

Next maybe restrict chinese tourists to HK if they still dont get the hint

HKers are very pragmatic people. Their main purpose is 1 Oct so as long China can contain the crowd by 1 Oct I think they will disperse, except for the students maybe. China just need to impose some economic pain on HK and things will change... the carrot does not seemed to be working.

http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-5759-...l#pid97413

[CityFarmer]

Both sides are ready, waiting for the authority call...

Launch of Shanghai-HK trading scheme seen up to regulators

SEOUL – The Shanghai Stock Exchange is unaware of when a landmark trading scheme with the exchange in Hong Kong will launch, an exchange official said, adding that the two bourses had already “done their jobs” for the project to take off.

Mr Bo Que, executive vice president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said the exchange was optimistic.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/laun...regulators

[CityFarmer]

IMHO we probably won't see through-train this year

A firm warning to HKers, and make it more likely the case...

China could 'punish' Hong Kong over protests, says ex-HK central bank chief

HONG KONG - A member of China's central bank's advisory body warned on Wednesday that Beijing will punish Hong Kong if pro-democracy protests that have paralyzed parts of the Chinese-controlled financial center for a month are allowed to continue.

Joseph Yam, executive vice president of advisory body China Society for Finance and Banking and a former Hong Kong central bank chief, said the city's financial integrity and stability of its currency were also at risk.

"Hong Kong's economic prosperity was built on its intermediary role between the mainland and overseas, especially in the financial realm," said Yam, who urged student protesters to return to their homes.

"(When) the intermediary is uncooperative, unreliable, trouble making, the mainland will for sure reduce reliance, make a fresh start at another place, have two strings to its bow and lessen preferential policies toward Hong Kong amid the economic reform process."
...
http://www.todayonline.com/world/ex-chin...r-protests

[greengiraffe]

No worries will go through as it will become another legal channel for leakages out of China...

IMHO we probably won't see through-train this year

A firm warning to HKers, and make it more likely the case...

China could 'punish' Hong Kong over protests, says ex-HK central bank chief

HONG KONG - A member of China's central bank's advisory body warned on Wednesday that Beijing will punish Hong Kong if pro-democracy protests that have paralyzed parts of the Chinese-controlled financial center for a month are allowed to continue.

Joseph Yam, executive vice president of advisory body China Society for Finance and Banking and a former Hong Kong central bank chief, said the city's financial integrity and stability of its currency were also at risk.

"Hong Kong's economic prosperity was built on its intermediary role between the mainland and overseas, especially in the financial realm," said Yam, who urged student protesters to return to their homes.

"(When) the intermediary is uncooperative, unreliable, trouble making, the mainland will for sure reduce reliance, make a fresh start at another place, have two strings to its bow and lessen preferential policies toward Hong Kong amid the economic reform process."
...
http://www.todayonline.com/world/ex-chin...r-protests

[CityFarmer]

No worries will go through as it will become another legal channel for leakages out of China...

I agree it will go through eventually, likely till next year.

HK still the largest offshore hub, and too costly to ignored for China. One likely scenario, is to gradually reduce the weightage, and re-channel the resource to other offshore hubs.

(not vested in HKSE, but SGX)

[CityFarmer]

Let's see...

China to soon announce date for landmark stock connect initiative: HK leader

HONG KONG - China will soon announce the date of a much-awaited initiative to connect the stock markets of Shanghai and Hong Kong, Hong Kong's leader said on Sunday, easing concerns the landmark scheme might have been shelved after losing Beijing's backing.

"The central government (China) places great importance in the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect scheme and supports it very much," Leung Chun-ying, the chief executive of Hong Kong, said after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing's Great Hall of the People."The relevant departments will in the short term announce details of its formal launch date," he told reporters.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/world/china-s...-hk-leader

[FA+TA]

Source: Channel News Asia
Hong Kong, Shanghai stock link to start Nov 17

A delayed trading link between Hong Kong and Shanghai's stock exchanges will start on Nov 17, the Hong Kong exchange announced on Monday (Nov 10).

HONG KONG: A delayed trading link between Hong Kong and Shanghai's stock exchanges will start on Nov 17, the Hong Kong exchange announced on Monday (Nov 10).

The bourse connection - which is expected to allow the equivalent of US$3.8 billion a day in cross-border transactions - had originally been slated for last month, but was unexpectedly delayed as pro-democracy protesters continued to shut down sections of Hong Kong. The link-up is seen as a key step towards greater financial liberalisation in the world's second largest economy.

"The SFC and the CSRC jointly announced today that the launch of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect on Nov 17, 2014 has been approved," said a statement issued by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) early Monday. The SFC is Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and the CSRC is the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The "Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect" platform will allow international investors to trade selected stocks on Shanghai's tightly-restricted exchange and let mainland investors buy shares in Hong Kong. It is expected to see volumes on both exchanges rise significantly, particularly Shanghai, but is subject to strict limits in order to preserve capital controls in China, where Communist authorities keep a tight grip on the yuan currency.

Hong Kong's embattled chief executive Leung Chun-ying had met with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sunday as the city hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Leung said that he had asked Xi for the stock connect to be implemented "as soon as possible". China's official news agency Xinhua said Xi had backed Hong Kong authorities' "efforts to safeguard the rule of law and maintain social order" in his meeting with Leung.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Hong Kong since September in fury at Beijing's insistence that candidates running in the city's 2017 leadership election are screened by a loyalist committee, an arrangement critics have branded "fake democracy". The protesters have also called for Leung to step down.

Media reports last month also said that the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), representing some of the world's biggest banks and asset managers, had written to Hong Kong regulators asking for a delay because of uncertainty over the scheme's rules.

China's premier Li Keqiang announced plans for the project in April and it had been expected to launch six months later. Plans for a similar tie-up in 2007 sparked a surge in share prices in both bourses, but they were eventually scrapped as the global financial crisis unfolded.

- AFP/nd

[specuvestor]

I'm surprised they are saying 17 Nov as the start date... I had thought earliest would be 1Q15

[CityFarmer]

I'm surprised they are saying 17 Nov as the start date... I had thought earliest would be 1Q15

Yes, we are wrong

It seems a good understanding achieved after Mr. Leung's meeting with President Xi.