ENG-2011 — Page 112

76 Financial and Monetary Affairs

daily turnover averaged $69.7 billion in 2011. At the end of the year, 1 496 public companies were listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK).

In 2011, Hong Kong ranked first worldwide in terms of IPO funds raised. In addition to new share issues, $230 billion was raised on the secondary market.

At the end of 2011, some 640 Mainland enterprises2 were listed on the SEHK, raising $3.2 trillion from the Hong Kong market since 1993. Hong Kong is also an increasingly attractive listing destination for international companies. Funds raised by these companies represented 52 per cent of IPO equity funds raised in 2011.

Overseas intermediaries are increasingly interested in setting up shops in Hong Kong. The number of Exchange Participants (EPs)3 trading on the SEHK and the futures market increased from 485 and 179 at the end of 2010 to 498 and 182 respectively at the end of 2011.

The asset management industry has a strong composition of international fund managers. At the end of 2011, a total of 884 companies were licensed or registered to carry out asset management business in Hong Kong, a rise of 6 per cent from a year earlier.

International financial institutions maintain a strong presence in Hong Kong. Of the world's top 100 banks, 73 operate in Hong Kong. At year's end, 142 of the 152 licensed banks in Hong Kong were foreign-owned.

The interbank money market is well established. Hong Kong dollar wholesale deposits are traded actively among local Als, and between local and banks incorporated outside Hong Kong, with an average daily turnover of $222.6 billion in 2011.

A triennial survey co-ordinated by the Bank for International Settlements in 2010 shows the daily average foreign exchange turnover in Hong Kong at US$237.6 billion, making Hong Kong the world's sixth largest foreign exchange market.

Hong Kong operates one of the most active physical gold markets in the world. Spot gold can be traded through two closely related yet independent markets in the city the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society and the loco London gold market. The Society, established in 1910, provides trading of both tael and kilo bars4. Prices track closely those in the major gold markets in London, Zurich and New York. In addition, Hong Kong is one of the largest over-the-counter (OTC) gold trading centres in Asia.

2 Mainland enterprises include H share companies, red-chip companies and non-H share Mainland

private enterprises.

3 An EP is a corporation that may trade on or through the SEHK or the Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited and is licensed under the Securities and Futures Ordinance to carry on securities/futures/options dealing activity.

4

Tael bars are of 99 per cent fineness and weighted in taels (one tael equals approximately 1.20337 troy ounces). Kilo bars are of 999.9 parts per thousand fineness and weighted in kilograms.