The critical role of Hong Kong as a financing hub for Mainland Chinese companies keen to expand internationally emerged as a strong theme at this year’s Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong.
At a symposium discussing trade in services, senior executives from mainland-invested technology and finance firms emphasised that Hong Kong’s international business environment acts as a springboard, from which mainland companies can expand into international markets.
Huatai International serves as one such example, an investment firm with roots in the mainland that has expanded globally using Hong Kong as a launchpad.
In his company’s efforts to internationalise and expand, Huatai CEO Dr Levin Wang rated Hong Kong’s financial markets as “absolutely critical” to developing Huatai’s ability to provide equity and debt financing to both Chinese enterprises going abroad and local enterprises in the domestic and overseas markets.
Last year, Huatai International's revenue exceeded HK$10 billion, making it the highest-earning mainland-funded brokerage in Hong Kong and second in the number of IPOs brought to market in Hong Kong.
In fact, a key message from the symposium is that mainland-funded finance companies now play a larger role in Hong Kong financial markets than ever before, accounting for about two-thirds of the market.
According to Dr Wang, Huatai’s success in Hong Kong has given it the confidence to pursue opportunities in markets as diversified as Saudi Arabia, Japan and Southeast Asia.
“As a mainland-based financial company, our role is to support mainland companies with financial services, as they expand abroad.”
“The experience we have gained in Hong Kong’s highly competitive and developed financial markets has given us great confidence in developing cross-border stocks, bonds, commodities and financial derivatives.”
“With the significant opportunities open to companies in the Belt and Road Initiative, Huatai will expand to provide services in the Belt and Road countries and regions.”
Observing that Chinese industrial parks have been set up in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries, Dr Wang predicts that as Chinese companies start to cluster, their demand for financial services will also increase, providing Huatai with opportunities to explore new markets.
Looking ahead, he suggested that Chinese securities firms should use Hong Kong's unique advantages to capture the continued growth of the middle class in Belt and Road markets and move their business steadily forward.
"We can use Hong Kong as the 'bridgehead' for our internationalisation and a hub to connect across markets.”
“This means first building a good bridge of investment products, second being a good 'tour guide' for overseas clients investing in China and, finally, helping more mainland enterprises to go global”.
