Bonnie Y Chan, Chief Executive Officer said:

“HKEX had a strong start to the year, with Q1 2025 being the Group’s best quarterly results on record. The renewed global interest in China opportunities that picked up in the second half of 2024 continued to build momentum into 2025, boosted by exciting developments in artificial intelligence and innovation. This, along with the increased participation of Mainland Chinese investors in offshore markets, led to record volumes in our Cash and Derivatives Markets. Trading turnover exceeded $300 billion on 16 days during the quarter, and several Futures and Options contracts achieved fresh single-day records in volume and open interest. Commodities also recorded solid growth, with the LME trading volumes marking the second highest quarterly levels in 11 years.

The vibrancy of Hong Kong’s capital raising activity during the quarter continued to underscore the attractiveness of our markets, which ranked in the world’s top five IPO venues and recorded two of the largest follow-on offerings since April 2021. And we entered the second quarter of the year with a healthy pipeline of 120 listing applications, strengthening our position as a leading global fundraising venue.

We also hit the ground running in 2025 in terms of strategic initiatives, from a new partnership with CMU OmniClear that underscores our commitment to enriching the city’s FIC ecosystem, to product launches that add more vibrancy and liquidity to our markets, to the continued expansion of our international network of recognised stock exchanges that diversify our channels for secondary listings.

Looking at the rest of 2025 and beyond, we will continue to leverage our unique China advantage, expand our connectivity with global markets, and enhance our channels, platforms and products, ensuring that we remain resilient against macro volatility, whilst being capable of capturing the many exciting opportunities ahead.”

Strategic Highlights

• Headline ADT, Stock Connect Southbound ADT and ETP ADT reached record quarterly highs of $242.7 billion, $109.9 billion and $39.4 billion respectively
• Record quarterly high for ADV of derivatives contracts traded on HKFE and stock options
• Record quarterly high for ADT of Northbound Bond Connect
• Record quarterly high for OTC Clear’s clearing volume
• New product launches in Q1 included: six new stock option classes; the cross-listing of the world’s largest Nasdaq 100 ETF; the listings of the first Hang Seng TECH Covered Call ETF and the first Single Stock L&I Products
• The number of active IPO applications increased to 120 as of 31 March 2025, up from 84 as of 31 December 2024  The Stock Exchange of Thailand was added as a Recognised Stock Exchange
• HKEX announced enhancements to the securities market stock settlement fee structure
• HKEX signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CMU OmniClear Limited to enhance the post-trade securities infrastructure of Hong Kong’s capital markets and enrich Hong Kong’s FIC ecosystem
• OTC Clear expanded the acceptance of China Government Bonds and Policy Bank Bonds held through Bond Connect as margin collateral for all derivative transactions cleared by OTC Clear from 21 March 2025
• HKEX collaborated with the World Economic Forum to host the first Financial Symposium in Hong Kong
• The LME launched its new trading platform, LMEselect v10  Conclusion of the judicial review of events in the nickel market in 2022 following the UK Supreme Court’s decision refusing to give the appellants permission to appeal
• The LME reached a settlement agreement with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding its enforcement investigation related to the nickel market events in 2022, drawing the investigation process to a close

The full results can be read here

Source: HKEX