Overview

Hong Kong’s role as a leading international financial centre has strengthened by increasing participation of both international and Mainland investors.

To enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a trading and risk management hub and an international financial centre, HKEX, under the support of the HKSAR Government and in consultation with regulatory authorities, has completed a market consultation and decided to keep Hong Kong's securities and derivatives markets open to provide trading, clearing and settlement services during severe weather conditions.

This initiative will make Hong Kong's markets available for local, mainland and international investors to respond to the latest global market development during Hong Kong's trading hours, including trading and risk management on index rebalancing days, regardless of the weather conditions.

To ensure safety, remote working and the use of online services are strongly encouraged on a Severe Weather Trading (SWT) day, and no public-facing physical outlets should provide services.  HKEX will also make some operational adjustments to ensure the market continues operating in a robust and resilient manner, as certain services provided only via physical outlets will be unavailable.

 

 

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE

HKEX has received regulatory approval for the implementation of SWT in its securities and derivatives markets, including Stock Connect trading, derivatives holiday trading and after-hours trading session, from 23 Sep 2024.

 

exchange participants and clearing participants swt readiness status

Following the successful testing and rehearsal sessions, HKEX is pleased to have received confirmations from participants representing 99.9% of the securities market share and 100% of the market share of the derivatives market declaring their readiness to operate under SW conditions after 23 September 2024.

HKEX notes that a small number of Exchange Participants (EPs) and their corresponding Clearing Participants (CPs) in the securities markets have declared not fully ready to operate under severe weather conditions.  These EP/CPs account for less than 0.1% of the market shares in the securities market.

After the implementation of SWT, all EPs and CPs are expected to fulfil their day-to-day operational requirements (e.g. fulfilling settlement obligations and regulatory reporting, etc.) on a SWT day.

Some EPs and CPs have become Qualified Exchange Participants (QEPs) and Qualified Clearing Participants (QCPs) in the SWT Assistance Scheme.  These QEPs and QCPs will be entitled to waivers from certain requirements and obligations on a SWT day while being subject to certain trading restrictions as set out in the relevant exchange or clearing house circulars published on 15 July 2024.

For market transparency, the lists of QEPs/QCPs and participants that have declared not fully ready to operate under SWT are posted below for reference.  Clients of these participants and related parties should contact their respective participants to understand their service provisions on a SWT Day.

• EPs and CPs which become QEPs and QCPs in the SWT Assistance Scheme (Last update: 14 Nov 2024)

• List of EPs and CPs that have declared not fully ready for SWT (Last update: 9 Dec 2024)

1. Bright Securities Limited, The
2. Sun Capital Securities Limited
3. Sun Securities Limited

 

Reference materials

Related documents and forms

• Consultation paper (Nov 2023)
• Conclusions paper (Jun 2024)
• Summary of SWT arrangements (Jun 2024)
• FAQ on SWT (Last update: 15 Jul 2024)
• Readiness Declaration Form 

 

Circular