The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced that its new digitalised IPO settlement platform FINI will be launched on 22 November 2023.

HKEX appears to have delayed the rollout of FINI from October. Earlier reports did mention that the exact launch date would be announced several weeks in advance and would be subject to market readiness.

FINI will significantly shorten the time between the pricing of an IPO and the trading of shares from five business days to two business days. It will also introduce a new public offer pre-funding model to help reduce the scale of locked-up funds in over-subscribed IPOs.

As a cloud-based platform, FINI will enable different stakeholders such as IPO sponsors, underwriters, legal advisers, banks, clearing participants, share registrars and regulators to collaborate and perform their respective roles in an IPO digitally.

HKEX has worked with Hong Kong’s IPO market participants to complete several rounds of testing, market practice sessions and rehearsals to prepare for the migration to FINI.

It will continue to provide support to market participants leading up to the launch date to ensure their full readiness.

Nicolas Aguzin, Chief Executive Officer of HKEX said,

“FINI is a major development for Hong Kong’s capital markets, bringing greater efficiency and convenience to market participants and issuers, helping them to better manage their risks and costs.

 

The new platform also underpins HKEX’s steadfast commitment to further enhancing the competitiveness and attractiveness of our markets, modernising Hong Kong’s market infrastructure and promoting collaboration.”