Selling out?
Published September 13th, 2007
The independent spirit that has inspired Hong Kong is at risk
HONG KONG saw itself as a bit of a financial pioneer when in 2000 it sold shares in its combined stock exchange and clearing house to the public. Why then, when so many other exchanges have since copied its approach, has it sought to turn the clock back? On September 7th the government announced it had bought back a stake of almost 6% in the exchange. That is now worth more than $1.5 billion.
That question was allowed to fester for days before John Tsang, the financial secretary, acknowledged on September 12th what had been widely suspected. He said it was a prelude to what he hoped would be closer ties with stock exchanges on the mainland and might eventually lead to share swaps with one or both of the mainland exchanges. …
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