Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Once pundits described the wealth of Hong Kong as its streets being paved with gold. Today, it’s still not far from that. Corporations seeking the end of the rainbow for that pot of gold are now stopping at Hong Kong for their financial needs.
Now Hong Kong is not only the financial hub in Asia, but also in the world.
Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) during the past week have pushed Hong Kong to the forefront, with leading accountancy firms KPMG China and Deloitte both ranking Hong Kong first globally ahead of the NASDAQ, New York, Shanghai Stock exchanges and the National Stock Exchange of India (which topped the list last year).
Hong Kong is expected to list 80 new IPOs this year raising about HK$200 billion (US$25.5 billion). Last year it completed only 21 IPOs raising HK$5.8 billion (US$ 740 million).
An elated Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a packed financial audience in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday that the core of Hong Kong’s success was our values: - openness, diversity, international character and global connectivity. Under the ‘one country, two systems’ governing framework, Hong Kong preserves its free port status, along with the free flow of capital, information, goods and talent.
And while Chan was wooing potential investors in Seoul, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had its busiest day of the year when five mainland companies made their trading debuts simultaneously. The five debutants raised HK$10.4 billion (US$11.32 billion) from their IPOs, adding to several jumbo-sized deals made already this year.
Winner of the day was Shanghai-listed semiconductor chip designer Fortior Technology which raised HK$2.26 billion (US$287 million) in its offering.
Wednesday was also the fifth trading session of 2025 where multiple companies went public on the same day in Hong Kong.
Deloitte noted that Hong Kong would see around HK$102.1 billion(US$13billion) raised from 40 IPOs between January and June, which represents a 33 percent increase year on year in terms of number of deals and six to seven times more in terms of size.
The strong performance was boosted by four mega mainland listings from Shanghai and Shenzhen, including that of battery giant CATL, which raised HK$41 billion in capital in Hong Kong, as well as bubble tea chain Mixue that raised HK$34.5 billion.
But Hong Kong doesn’t stop at just raising money, it also helps companies physically set-up shop here to tap mainland and regional markets.
Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government agency designed to assist new startups, has assisted more than 1,300 overseas and mainland companies to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong from January 2023 to the first six months of 2025, bringing in foreign direct investment of more than HK$168 billion (US$21.4billion). These startups created more than 19,000 jobs within the first year of operation or expansion, contributing to the local job market and reaffirming Hong Kong's position as a leading business hub in Asia.
The top five sectors boosting their presence in Hong Kong are financial services and fintech, innovation and technology, family offices, tourism and hospitality and business and professional services.
Director General of InvestHK, Ms Alpha Lau said the agency also assists mainland companies to go global via Hong Kong and further promote Hong Kong's advantages as a regional trade and high-end logistics hub. “We will continue to leverage Hong Kong's role as a two-way springboard for mainland and overseas companies to connect between our country and the rest of the world under the 'one country, two systems' principle," she said.
The story of Hong Kong is one of tremendous efficiency with virtually unlimited resources. When wrapping up his talk in Seoul, Chan left his audience with these priceless gems: Hong Kong has no dividend tax, no capital gains tax, a low profits tax at only 16.5 per cent, trading in multiple currencies, including HKD, USD and RMB, and trading hours aligned with the Asian time zone. What could be a better place to do business?
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Ninety legislators will be sworn into office this week, 35 of whom will be taking the oath of office for the first time. It will be a combined act of patriotism, a far cry from the swearing in ceremony in 2016 when four potential lawmakers created their own oaths advocating self-determination and were subsequently disqualified from office.
The western media, including some in Hong Kong, brand “patriotism” as a bad thing for Hong Kong, inferring that there is no “opposition” in the legislature. But they are wrong. The legislators have their own mind and will vote according to their conscience.
Four pieces of legislation proposed by the government have not passed the test and were voted out while many others were heavily debated by the legislators. Regardless of what London’s Guardian newspaper and others say, Hong Kong does have a meaningful opposition.
It is unfortunate that the local Democratic Party, seen by the west as the “opposition,” did not field any candidates in the recent elections and eventually closed down. The choice was theirs and their recent actions indicate they did not intend to follow the rules of the council.
The Legislative Council is a place where lawmakers are elected to serve the people, not to use it as a platform for subversion as had happened in the past.
In 2017 four lawmakers – Long Hair Leung Kwok-hung, Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai and Edward Yiu – were stripped of their seats for failing to take their oaths of office in a “sincere and solemn” manner. They used props and amended the oath to suit their purpose. Others followed, including student Agnes Chow who also failed taking the oath of office but later jailed on subversion charges. The quartet’s disqualification followed the highly publicized ousting of two localist lawmakers, Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching, whose oath-takings involved anti-China banners and usage of derogatory wartime slurs for China.
Together, the quartet had mustered 185,727 votes in the 2016 elections and their selfishness left their followers void of leadership. Their actions were that of self-interest, to achieve their own hidden goals, and not to serve the people who put them in the seats of power. They abused their positions.
Obviously foreign forces had infiltrated the legislature and political unrest ensued as attempts were being made to unseat the base of Hong Kong’s parliament. In July 2020 the government announced that the nominations for 15 candidates were declared invalid due to their objection to the national security law or were sincere in statements involving separatism. And on November 11, 2020, Dennis Kwok, a founding member of the Civic Party and a representative of the legal profession in the council, was accused of delaying the legislative proceedings and passage of bills and was subsequently disqualified along with follow lawmakers Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung. Just hours later 15 fellow lawmakers resigned in protest.
Kwok was later charged with collusion and fled to Canada and then to the US with a HK$1 million bounty on his head.
The festering germ of dissent even spread to the local district councils who also used their positions to undermine the government.
It had to stop and in March 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (SCNPC) approved changes to the Hong Kong’s electoral system allowing only patriots to serve the government and the people of Hong Kong.
What publications like Hong Kong Free Press, The Washington Post, London’s Financial Times etc. don’t understand is that Hong Kong is a target by the five-eyes network of spies and clandestine operators, led by the US and including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The ultimate target is, of course, China. By crippling Hong Kong and especially its law-making process, it can cripple China and hamper its progressive growth.
These publications will continue to use Hong Kong “Patriots only” legislature as a slur, not as a compliment. It’s in their DNA to be anti-Hong Kong/China. They are the vehicles of the west to bring discord to Hong Kong with total disregard to fact.
But “patriots only” apply to every democracy in the world. No place could be more patriotic than the US where the stars and stripes (the US flag) hang from the porches of almost every household. And legislators in all democracies have to swear allegiances to the country and their constitution. And like Hong Kong, they are vetted to ensure their allegiances are true to the country before standing for election.
