• New scholarships to be awarded each year to support talent in business, finance, biotech, and innovation
• Funding for scholarships to be from new HKEX Foundation

 

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is today (Friday) pleased to announce the launch of its first university scholarship programme in Hong Kong, which will develop home-grown talent in the fields of business, finance, biotech, and innovation.

The programme will each year fund, through the newly-launched HKEX Foundation two types of scholarships: The HKEX Foundation Scholarship will be granted for study in the fields of business and finance; whilst the HKEX Foundation Scholarship for Biotechnology and Innovation will be awarded to candidates demonstrating achievement or potential in the area of biotechnology and innovation.

“This year marks HKEX’s 20th anniversary as a public company. Over the past two decades, nurturing talent, giving young people the skills and tools they need to fulfil their own ambitions, and supporting the next generation of leaders have been a major priority for us,” said HKEX Chairman Laura M Cha. “I am therefore delighted today to be announcing our HKEX Foundation’s scholarship programme which will support the best and brightest talent in Hong Kong. Working with some of Hong Kong’s world leading academic institutions, we will sponsor a number of scholarships in finance and biotechnology, in turn contributing not only to the development of the talent pool, but to Hong Kong’s continuing role as a leading global international financial centre.”

The scholarships will initially support tertiary students at The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the 2020-2021 academic year. Six scholarships of $50,000 each – or three in each scholarship category – will be given out every year. Application details will be announced in due course.

“Part of our new scholarship programme will be dedicated to supporting talent in the biotech and innovations sector, an area of remarkable growth and emerging importance in Hong Kong,” Mrs Cha added. “This reflects our commitment to cultivate the local ecosystem for new economy and biotech investments, adding vibrancy and diversity to Hong Kong’s capital market.”

Since HKEX launched its listing reforms two years ago, Hong Kong has become a preferred listing venue for high growth biotech and new economy companies from around the world. Ninety new economy companies (including healthcare and biotech firms) have listed in Hong Kong since the new listing rules took effect, raising $363.2 billion, and accounting for 55 per cent of IPO funds raised in Hong Kong during the period. Hong Kong is currently the second largest biotech fundraising centre in the world.

  

About the HKEX Foundation

The HKEX Foundation, HKEX’s charitable foundation, was incorporated to offer greater autonomy in driving changes that align with HKEX’s purposes, and to create a platform to engage key stakeholders in giving back to the community over the long term. It is a recognised charitable entity set-up under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, to provide a single channel for HKEX’s philanthropic efforts. The HKEX Foundation selectively invests and supports community projects that help address various social and environmental challenges faced by our society. Since February, the HKEX Foundation has made emergency relief donations of $10 million to support those in need amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

About HKEX

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is one of the world’s major exchange groups, and operates a range of equity, commodity, fixed income and currency markets.  HKEX is the world’s leading IPO market and as Hong Kong’s only securities and derivatives exchange and sole operator of its clearing houses, it is uniquely placed to offer regional and international investors access to Asia’s most vibrant markets.

HKEX is also the global leader in metals trading, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, The London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear Limited.  This commodity franchise was further enhanced with the launch of Qianhai Mercantile Exchange (QME), in China, in 2018.

HKEX launched the pioneering Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme in 2014, further expanded with the launch of Shenzhen Connect in 2016, and the launch of Bond Connect in 2017.

www.hkexgroup.com

 

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