Shuli Ren, Columnist

Hong Kong Must Crack the Enigma Code

Is the stock exchange a casino or a global financial center? Regulators must decide.

July 2, 2017 at 8:00 PM UTC

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

Computer History Museum — Photographer: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News

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Thrill-seekers in Hong Kong who want to gamble in casinos usually have to take a bumpy, hour-long ferry ride to Macau. Those who crave excitement without leaving the city might do just as well punting on Hong Kong's small-cap stocks.

Structural weaknesses and a reluctance by regulators to delist miscreant companies has turned Hong Kong's $4.6 trillion stock market into fertile ground for individual speculators and short sellers, exemplified by last week's sudden plunge in a series of small-cap shares.