The head of Hong Kong’s stock exchange has suggested the city dramatically widen the scope of an “emotional” review of its process for listing new companies — potentially offering regulators a way of dealing¹ with the tricky² issue.

香港交易所(HKEx)行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)建议，香港应大幅扩大对新公司上市程序的评估的范围，这可能会为香港监管机构解决上市制度改革这一棘手问题提供一种办法。该评估引起了“情绪化”的反应。

The proposal comes as the Hong Kong Exchange celebrates a second year as the world’s largest new listings venue³, despite growing criticism of the behaviour of its smaller stocks.

此际，港交所第二年成为全球最大新公司上市地，尽管越来越多的人对香港小盘股的行为提出批评。

Charles Li , chief executive of the HKEx, yesterday suggested the city expand a current review of its listings process by adding an examination of its Growth Enterprise Market — broadly equivalent to London’s AIM exchange for smaller companies. Views could also potentially be sought on a new board designed to attract smaller start-ups.

李小加昨日建议，香港应通过增加对创业板市场(Growth Enterprise Market)的审查，来扩大目前对上市程序的评估。香港创业板市场大致相当于伦敦针对较小公司的另类投资市场(AIM)。香港还可能就设立新板以吸引较小初创企业征求意见。

“We can spend another three years debating every single thing in isolation⁴ and we will still not get anywhere as we are not looking at all the elephants in the room, we are loo king at only one elephant — that is why we propose we do everything potentially together,” he said.

他表示：“是时候以全盘形式进行咨询，如果将各个议题分开处理，可能数年后仍然原地踏步。一些人士选择支持或者反对上市监管架构咨询，其中牵涉到现有的创业板市场存在的问题，以及是否需要设立新板等问题。需要将所有相关的问题放在一起，做一个全面的讨论。”

Some bankers and brokers⁵ say privately⁶ that the review, which is being driven by the regulator the Securities and Futures⁷ Commission, has not been constructed very well.

一些银行家和经纪商私下表示，这次上市程序评估的设计不是非常合理，该评估由香港证监会(Securities & Futures Commission)推动。

A broader process could, therefore, provide the SFC with a way of bringing the critics onside. Last year the city’s Financial Services Development Council, a government advisory⁸ group, publicly opposed the plan.

因此，扩大评估范围可能会让香港证监会获得批评者的支持。去年，政府顾问机构香港金融发展局(Financial Services Development Council)公开反对该计划。

The SFC said it welcomed the HKEx’s efforts to develop Hong Kong as a financial centre, but declined to comment further until the exchange developed its idea further. Last year, the HKEx raised $25bn through initial public offerings with some big deals included in the numbers. This matches the funds raised on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq combined.

香港证监会表示，对港交所让香港成为金融中心的努力表示欢迎，但在港交所进一步论述其观点之前拒绝发表更多评论。去年，港交所的首次公开发行(IPO)融资额为250亿美元，包括一些大规模IPO。这一融资额相当于纽约证券交易所(NYSE)和纳斯达克(Nasdaq)融资额的总和。

But a rise in unexplained volatility⁹ and a lack of transparency, particularly among smaller stocks, are clouding the city’s reputation. The SFC has almost doubled the number of its investigations¹⁰ in the past five years, while complaints about what it calls “problematic” companies have risen sharply.

但无法解释的波动性上升以及透明度缺乏（特别是小盘股）正给香港的声誉蒙上阴影。过去5年，香港证监会的调查数量几乎翻了一番，同时外界对于证监会所说的“问题”公司的抱怨也大幅增多。

The HKEx and the SFC are currently studying responses to their jointly¹¹ launched listings review, which would reduce the power of the city’s Listing Committee and increase the regulator’s role. Made up of professionals including bankers, lawyers, accountants and investors¹², the committee vets¹³ all would-be IPOs and membership is much prized.

港交所和证监会目前正对二者联合推出的上市评估所获咨询意见进行研究。拟议的上市制度改革将削弱港交所上市委员会(Listing Committee)的权力并提高证监会的作用。上市委员会由专业人士组成，包括银行家、律师、会计师和投资者，负责对所有上市申请进行审查，其成员资格备受重视。

Mr Li described the current consultation¹⁴ as “one of the most debated listing consultations¹⁵ we’ve ever seen”.

李小加称当前的意见征询是“我们看到过的争议最多的上市咨询之一”。

He added: “It has continued to be controversial. The feedback has been massive — it’s been emotional, very substantive¹⁶ and it reflects a very broad range of opinions.”

他补充称：“争议持续不断。反馈很多，它们带有情绪，数量多，反映出非常广泛的意见。”

The HKEx leader sought, however, to downplay suggestions of a rift¹⁷ with the SFC over the issue. “I don’t want this to become an awkward moment for my friends,” he said. “At the end of the day their hearts are in the right place, but we may have slightly different views about things.”

然而，李小加试图弱化与香港证监会在这个问题上存在分歧的说法。“我不希望这成为让我的朋友们感到尴尬的时刻，”他表示，“最终，他们的心是好的，但我们对事情的看法可能略有不同。”