Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary Frederick Ma expects Hong Kong’s fund industry to increase two-fold in size in five years. Ma’s optimism is due to the fact that more fund houses are likely to use the territory, as a platform for investing in Chinese stocks. The Standard quoted Ma as saying that the asset under management had reached HKD3 trillion as at end of 2003. According to data released by the Securities and Futures Commission, the asset size had grown about 23% to HKD3.618 trillion as at end of 2004. Ma said that if the growth rate could be sustained, the target of HKD6 trillion would be achieved earlier than expected. The newspaper also reported that Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange are favourites of both local and overseas investors.
