Julia Leung, chief executive of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has set out Hong Kong’s next steps to deepen market liquidity.

At an ASIFMA conference, she said average daily stock turnover has passed HK$270 billion so far this year. That is 160% higher than in 2023.

Since 2023, the SFC and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) have carried out several reforms.

Leung said that when friction is removed at the right points, liquidity tends to follow.

They raised the rebate on cash collateral and halved the fees on non-cash collateral.

Since October 2025, the rebate rate on Hong Kong dollar cash has risen 45% in the derivatives market. In the cash market, it is up eightfold.

The next major step is cross-market margining, so firms can offset margin across HKEX’s clearing houses.

HKEX and the HKMA’s CMU OmniClear are also studying a one-stop post-trade platform.

Smaller minimum spreads have cut bid-ask spreads by 38% for the first 300 stocks.

HKEX will soon set a timeline for T+1 settlement. From November, board lot reform will cover all listed firms.

Work is under way on longer trading hours, starting with derivatives. HKEX and the HKMA are testing e-HKD for after-hours margin payments.

Turnover in exchange-traded products has grown 3.6 times since 2023. These products make up nearly a fifth of Main Board trades.

Leung tied this growth to ETF Connect, which covers 31 ETFs. She also cited new products such as virtual asset spot ETFs.

Leung said Hong Kong’s progress shows that liquidity is built by design rather than left to chance, with further work still ahead.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by rawpixel.com via Magnific.