Big fish

摘要

THE HONG KONG Stock Exchange (HKEX) resembles a financial estuary, says Charles Li, its boss. China's capital flows mix with the open seas of global markets. In 2014 HKEX sought to ride the waves by launching Stock Connect, a conduit allowing offshore and mainland punters to invest in each other's markets. Later it eased its listing rules for firms with dual share classes. All that has helped make HKEX more hospitable to the tech firms that exchanges covet. It has just landed another big catch. On August 25th Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, filed for a listing that may raise $3obn in Hong Kong and Shanghai (see box on next page). That would make it the largest initial public offering ever.