Singapore Exchange hints at deeper ties with HKEX: can yuan business open doors?

Singapore Exchange (SGX) Group is seeking to widen its cross-listing schemes with Shanghai and Shenzhen and explore partnerships with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) and other exchanges, according to its CEO.“Connectivity, in my view, is the new architecture for capital markets,” said Loh Boon Chye in an exclusive interview with the Post during his visit to Shenzhen last week. “We look towards more connectivity, not just with China but with other like-minded exchanges.”Loh said if there was clear value, product innovation and widening of choices for investors in Hong Kong and Singapore, “why not a partnership?”He said there was no concrete plan for how SGX might collaborate with HKEX, but he pointed to the yuan business as a potential area to explore. HKEX and SGX signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in developing the yuan business in December 2013, though progress since then had been limited.“Singapore and Hong Kong are major international finance hubs in this part of the world,” Loh said. “HKEX and SGX are key platforms for the internationalisation of the yuan, and that may be an area where we can collaborate when the offshore yuan is traded by more international investors.”Loh, who joined SGX as CEO in 2015, has been masterminding a number of partnerships. In November, SGX formed a partnership with Nasdaq to launch a global listing board in the middle of 2026 to allow companies to use one set of offering documents to seek listings and fundraising in both the US and Singapore. It also has partnerships with the stock exchanges of Thailand and Indonesia to use depository receipts for cross-listing.