New Era begins as Carlson Tong takes HKEX helm

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the operator of the city's stock exchange, has appointed Carlson Tong Ka-shing to succeed Laura Cha Shih May-lung as chairman.

Tong, 69, said he was deeply honored and expressed his gratitude to Cha, adding that he will work closely with HKEX's newly appointed chief executive Bonnie Chan Yiting to capitalize on growth opportunities amid an ever-changing environment.

Chan took over from Nicolas Aguzin last month to become the first female chief of HKEX.

Acknowledging the challenges, Tong said: "We must be proactive in seizing the opportunities ahead, as we focus on further diversifying our product ecosystem, enhancing our infrastructure, and bolstering our competitiveness.

"By navigating the immediate challenges and positioning ourselves for long-term opportunities, we will fulfil HKEX's obligations to the investing public while delivering value to its shareholders."

Cha met the press after the annual general meeting and said that apart from being the independent non-executive director for Ant Group, her role for most listed companies has been ended and she will not take up any more in the future. She will focus on personal matters and participate in nonprofit organization jobs.

Cha, who retired from the chairman's role after six years, will act as senior adviser to the HKEX board till April next year. Cha expects Tong to continue to promote the internationalization of HKEX.

Tong is set to receive an annual director's fee of HK$4.55 million for his chairmanship and other roles in his term till the 2025 annual general meeting.

Frederick Ma Si-hang, chairman of insurer FWD, congratulated Tong, believing he is qualified for the job based on his experience. Ma said Tong will maintain good communication with all HKEX stakeholders and expects him to help strengthen Hong Kong's role as an international finance center.

Tong, a former chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, led a government-appointed task force to submit proposals to boost the local stock market liquidity last year.

The government has rolled out a series of supportive measures, including a stamp duty cut to 0.1 percent for stock trading based on the task force's proposals. Authorities are reviewing longer-term suggestions such as changing the practice of trading in board lots.

The city's benchmark Hang Seng Index suffered a fourth straight year of decline last year with weaker turnover amid China's economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions.

This came as HKEX's profit slid 13 percent to HK$2.97 billion in the first quarter from a year ago, although it beat analysts' estimate of HK$2.81 billion in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue during the period declined 6 percent to HK$5.2 billion, mainly due to sluggish trading and lower listing fee income.

The average daily trading turnover fell 22 percent year on year to HK$99.4 billion during the first quarter from a year ago, but HKEX added that it saw a notable uptick in turnover in March and April.

The bourse operator also suffered a 25 percent decline in listing fees in the first three months amid a listing drought. Just 12 companies raised HK$4.8 billion from initial public offerings in Hong Kong in the first quarter, down 28 percent from a year earlier.

But HKEX said the listing pipeline "remained healthy" with 85 active applications at the end of March. There were also some bright spots for HKEX in the first quarter.

Derivatives trading rose 14 percent to an average of 855,000 contracts per day, data showed. Trading of metal contracts on the London Metal Exchange, a unit of HKEX, grew 31 percent during the period.

The average turnover through the northbound channel of the Stock Connect scheme with the mainland jumped 37 percent to 133 billion yuan (HK$147 billion) a day after over 1,000 new stocks had been introduced since last March.

caroline.zheng@singtaonewscorp.com