Hong Kong Stock Exchange: Total IPO financing reached HK$274.6 billion in 2025

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on December 22, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange released the 2025 review. In 2025, the amount of capital raised in the Hong Kong IPO market ranked first in the world. The amount raised was significantly higher than last year, and the average daily turnover reached a record high. The average daily turnover of the spot market for the first 11 months of 2025 reached HK$23.7 billion, an increase of 43% over the same period last year. As of December 19, a total of 106 companies were listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a total financing of HK$274.6 billion. Four of these companies also ranked among the top ten global IPOs in 2025. Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange raised $66 billion through refinancing.

With the “DeepSeek Moment” and the emergence of many scientific and technological innovations in mainland China, and the introduction of many reforms in the Hong Kong market, international capital has clearly returned to Hong Kong. Since the implementation of Chapter 18A and Chapter 18C of the Listing Rules, a total of 88 biotechnology and specialty technology companies have been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, fully reflecting investors' strong interest in cutting-edge fields.

In May of this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission jointly launched the “Science and Enterprise Hotline” to facilitate the listing of specialty technology companies and biotechnology companies. This strategic move enables innovative enterprises to raise capital more effectively and accelerate development through Hong Kong's vibrant financial market.

In November of this year, HKEx launched Hang Seng Biotech Index Futures, which focus on the fastest growing and most dynamic sector, provide investors with risk management tools, and complement HKEx's existing biotechnology-related products and flagship stock index derivatives.

Building on these strategic developments, HKEx launched the HKEx Technology 100 Index to further expand its index business. The index is the Group's first stock index focusing on the Hong Kong technology industry, tracking 100 well-known large and medium market capitalization companies. These companies' industries cover six innovative industries, demonstrating HKEx's continued commitment to building a thriving, innovation-led capital market.

Expanding global influence and building strategic partnerships

In 2025, HKEx will continue to strengthen international ties, including actively expanding the source of listed companies to attract issuers from different regions to list in Hong Kong. This year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange welcomed issuers from Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates to list in Hong Kong.

HKEx added the Stock Exchange of Thailand as an accredited stock exchange this year, and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, further demonstrating HKEx's commitment to creating a vibrant and connected market for issuers. At the same time, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange opened an office in Riyadh and set up a commodity pricing subsidiary in Dubai, highlighting the Group's strategic layout to expand its international influence and expand its commodities business in the Middle East.

Driven by a wave of innovation in mainland China, the Hong Kong market has successfully attracted the active participation of many international investors, and both new stock and refinancing issues are highly sought after by capital in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The continued attention of global investors not only shows their full confidence in the Hong Kong capital market, but also highlights the role of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange not only as an IPO financing center, but also as a strategic platform providing a full range of investment opportunities.

Increase market activity and liquidity

The HKEx derivatives market also performed well this year. As of November 30, the average number of futures and options contracts traded per day reached a record high of 1.69 million, an increase of 8% over the previous year. Among them, stock options are the most actively traded product, with an average daily turnover of 895,548 contracts, an increase of 23% over the same period last year.

The market for exchange-traded products (ETP) (including ETFs and leveraged and inverse products) is growing. By the end of November, the average daily turnover reached HK$37.6 billion, double that of the same period last year. During the year, HKEx welcomed the first batch of individual stock leveraged and reverse product listings in Asia, further enriching product diversity and improving market liquidity. A total of 48 new ETPs were listed in 2025, fully reflecting the rich and diverse product ecosystem of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In order to further enhance the liquidity and activity of the Hong Kong market, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange implemented the first phase of lowering the minimum price increase and fall level in August this year to reduce overall transaction costs and improve the efficiency of price discovery. In addition, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also published a discussion paper to discuss ways to shorten the settlement cycle for the Hong Kong stock spot market, optimize the stock settlement fee structure in the securities market, and eliminate minimum and maximum fee limits.

Looking forward to the future, HKEx will continue to optimize the market and activate market transactions and enrich the product ecosystem by introducing new products, thus achieving a virtuous cycle of “liquidity creates liquidity”. New future initiatives include a proposal to reduce the number of shares per lot to eight options; implementation of a paperless securities market; and other major reforms. These measures ensure that Hong Kong's capital market remains dynamic and competitive, and responds flexibly to the changing needs of different stakeholders.

Lay out the future

As HKEx advances its future development strategy, it is essential to build an innovative and resilient financial ecosystem. Drawing on the success of the Hong Kong spot market, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is currently actively promoting the development of the fixed interest rate and currency products (FIC) ecosystem.

In order to build a multi-asset product ecosystem, HKEx invested 20% of the shares in Xunqing Clearing Holdings to further deepen its strategic partnership with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. This strategic investment is based on a memorandum of cooperation signed between the two sides in March this year. It will consolidate Hong Kong's position as a global bond financing center, risk management center and offshore RMB business center, and lay the foundation for building a dynamic fixed interest rate and currency products market, making it comparable in depth and liquidity to the Hong Kong stock market.

Hong Kong officially became a delivery site approved by the London Metal Exchange (LME) this year. It is an important milestone both for LME's global network and coverage, and for the development of the Hong Kong commodity market. As of December of this year, the number of LME approved delivery warehouses in Hong Kong has increased to 13, reflecting Hong Kong's determination to develop a global commodity trading center.

LME also performed strongly this year, with an average daily turnover of 6% from the beginning of the year to November 30 compared to the same period last year. Following the launch of the new trading platform LMEselect v10 in March, it also announced plans to modernize the options market aimed at improving liquidity and transparency. LME plans to introduce an automatic options expiration function in the early second half of 2026, and it is expected that electronic options trading will be implemented by the end of the year.

Community Contribution and Sustainable Development

As a company with a mission, HKEx plays an important and unique role in promoting positive market and social reforms as a company, regulator and market operator. In December of this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hosted the “Community Chest Hong Kong Exchange Golden Glow Relay Race”, which attracted the participation of more than 400 officials, business leaders and market participants from the financial sector and other fields, raising a total of HK$9.7 million in donations.

On the 5th anniversary of its establishment, the HKEx Charitable Foundation raised the donation amount from HK$25 million to HK$50 million for a three-year flagship charity program focused on supporting caregivers, reflecting HKEx's commitment to work hand in hand with the community to promote social welfare.

After the fire broke out at Wang Fu Yuen in Tai Po, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Charitable Foundation donated HK$10 million to the HKSAR Government Disaster Relief Fund, and distributed one-on-one allocations for all employees' personal donations to support the basic living and temporary resettlement needs of affected residents.

HKEx is also committed to promoting sustainable development and environmental protection. Recently, it released “Carbon Credit: A Buyer's Guide”, which provides practical information, sorts out the context of the carbon credit market, and helps enterprises and investors make smart decisions and move towards sustainable development goals. The move reflects HKEx's determination to support the low-carbon transition by increasing transparency, building market confidence and encouraging more companies to participate in the voluntary carbon market.

HKEx Group Chief Executive Chen Yiting said that 2025 will be a year for global investors to return to the Hong Kong market, and innovation and development in mainland China and Asia have injected endless vitality into the market. Market liquidity continues to increase, listing bells are ringing one after another, and innovation is favored by capital. HKEx will continue to make further efforts to expand its product ecosystem, build a richer and more diverse market, and provide a variety of spot stocks, ETFs, derivatives, fixed interest and currency products, and other risk management tools to meet the needs of different investors.

Chen Yiting pointed out that this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has also made a lot of strategic progress, strengthening the foundation for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to continue to be an international financing platform in the future. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange made a strategic investment in Xunqing Settlement Holdings, promoted plans to purchase the Group's permanent headquarters, and conducted a number of market consultations on further improving market efficiency and vitality. A series of listing reforms and a “dedicated line for science and technology enterprises” have attracted many innovative companies to go public in Hong Kong, while the connectivity mechanism continues to play a unique role as a bridge between mainland China and international capital markets. Looking ahead to 2026, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will continue to rely on technological empowerment and partners to jointly build a future-oriented ecosystem — providing richer products, more convenient ways to participate, and more diverse choices.