MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Deputy President, Hong Kong has ranked first for seven years globally in terms of annual funds raised through IPO during the past 11 years. If Hong Kong is to maintain its status as an international financial centre, it should do its best to avoid any listing being withdrawn after the end of the subscription period, like what happened in this case, so as to boost investors’ confidence.
May I ask the Government the lesson it has learnt in this incident? Apart from the potential responsibility of sponsors mentioned by Mr Christopher CHEUNG earlier, will the Government also consider how to avoid the withdrawal of listing application after the receipt of IPO subscription money?
SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I thank Mr CHAN for his question. The suspension of listing was decided by Ant Group. It issued an announcement about its listing plan in Hong Kong on 3 November to explain the suspension. In this incident, we have been monitoring systemic risks from the perspective of market regulation but do not see any risks of this kind. Instead, the financial system of Hong Kong has remained stable and the refund arrangements, as I just said, were very smooth. If we consider the incident from this angle, it has indeed proved the resilience of our financial market as a whole, which is conducive to enhancing our appeal to companies interested in seeking secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Members may have noted that HKEX published consultation conclusions at the end of October to give views on corporates with WVR structure. Its aim is to attract a new type of companies (i.e. corporates with WVR structure) to seek secondary listing in Hong Kong. I believe it is favourable for Hong Kong to expand its base of listing clients.