Internet Technology Can Help Hong Kong Lead the Development of a Virtual Financial Market

Young, sophisticated, computer-literate people will become the predominant retail investors in Hong Kong. They will have high requirements for convenience and control over their finances and therefore will be active investors and intensive users of information, and interested in a wide range of securities, composites, and derivatives.

With the increasing gap between the costs of provision of on-line investment services when compared to traditional services, it is inevitable that there will be a significant shift of Hong Kong retail investors to on-line services. Hong Kong’s regulators, exchanges and market practitioners must take the lead now.

These are the conclusions of an expert report on the impacts of Internet technology on key sectors of Hong Kong’s investment services market. The Better Hong Kong Foundation, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange commissioned Professor Henry Birdseye Weil of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Weil & Company Inc. to produce the report.

A spokesman for the four commissioning organisations said they would consider the recommendations of the report and their implications for Hong Kong.

“There will be work to be done by our organisations to ensure that Hong Kong embraces the challenges and opportunities of Internet investment services for the betterment of Hong Kong, in particular its securities and futures industry,” the spokesman said.

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For enquiries, please contact Mr Henry Law, the Stock Exchange on 2840 3862; Mr Alvin Lee, the Better Hong Kong Foundation on 2861 2622; Mr Bill Weeks, SFC on 2840 9287; or Mr Ross Lai, the Futures Exchange on 2842 9421.