Hong Kong Risks Squandering Its Alibaba Dividend
High trading fees are undercutting the stock exchange’s appeal as an alternative venue for U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
It's time to ring the changes on trading fees.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/BloombergHong Kong is missing an opportunity to displace the U.S. as an offshore listing venue for Chinese companies by keeping trading fees too high. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $11 billion offering in November showed the potential for the city’s stock exchange to attract U.S.-listed mainland enterprises amid an unsettled trade relationship between the two largest economies. Relatively expensive costs threaten to undermine that appeal.
Investors get more for their dollar when they trade on the New York Stock Exchange. In Hong Kong, bid-ask spreads are wider and minimum investment requirements are higher. That increases the chance of so-called slippage, when there is a difference between the expected price of a trade and the level at which it is actually executed. With zero stamp duty and lower minimum trade requirements, the NYSE has a more favorable environment for active investors.