On 15 September 2017, the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange) published conclusions to their consultations on the proposed enhancements to the Exchange’s decision-making and governance structure for listing regulation. 

Among other items, the conclusions clarify the role of the SFC as the statutory regulator which administers the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and the Securities and Futures (Stock Market Listing) Rules (SMLR) and the Exchange’s role as the regulator administering the Listing Rules. The role of the Listing Committee (LC) under the Listing Rules will remain unchanged.

This Hong Kong Capital Markets Update examines the SFC and the Exchange’s consultation conclusions and their implications, including the role of the new Listing Policy Panel in policy development, listing decisions relating to IPO applications and post-IPO matters, as well as the review and publication of listing decisions.