Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, the world’s largest bourse operator by market value, plans to form a joint venture with its counterparts in Shanghai and Shenzhen in a move that would mark the most significant commercial link between the three exchanges.
Thursday’s announcement came a day after Li Keqiang, the Chinese vice-premier, unveiled measures to boost Hong Kong’s role as a financial centre and widen the channels for money to flow between the city and the mainland.
While HKEx said the plans were preliminary and that “no binding agreement has been entered into”, shares in the exchange operator surged by as much as 7 per cent in Hong Kong on Thursday before closing up 3.6 per cent, while the wider market was down.