Exclusive | MSCI affirms Hong Kong as ‘absolutely right partner’ for China access after ending licensing deal with Singapore Exchange
- Hong Kong has become a major intermediary for mainland financial assets, MSCI’s chief operating officer Pettit says
- Cooperation with HKEX may get even bigger either by building a new index or just licensing it ‘for the right product at the right time’
“Hong Kong has become a major intermediary for mainland financial assets,” said Baer Pettit, president and chief operating officer of the New York-based global index provider. It is “absolutely the right partner for us related to the Greater China opportunity.”
China’s US$9.4 trillion stock market is the biggest in Asia-Pacific, according to Bloomberg data. With Hong Kong’s US$4.3 trillion market, the market is the deepest among key financial centres in the region, compared with US$5 trillion in Japan and US$378 billion in Singapore.
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Hong Kong is ‘absolutely the right partner’ related to China opportunities, says MSCI president
That assessment came from the early success of its licensing agreement with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) on 37 of its biggest and widely followed indices, in a huge coup for the city’s bourse operator.
The decision in May 2020 to end the derivative agreement with Singapore Exchange (SGX) was based on a “larger customer base” in Hong Kong and the access to institutional and retail investors in Greater China, Henry Fernandez, chairman and chief executive officer at MSCI, said previously.
The offshore ecosystem was expanded in December with the listing of the first exchange-traded fund and derivative warrants on the index.
