IR Insights from HKEX
 

The future of investor relations
Markets and the investing landscape are increasingly complex and that means the role of investor relations has become more important than ever. Investors and institutions expect corporates to have dedicated investor relations professionals to help them understand the corporate story – strategy, financials and operations. And these investor relations professionals must be skilled in telling credible and compelling stories that can be heard through the noise. Exchanges are strongly positioned to help as the future of markets evolves – by offering innovative solutions and tech-driven platforms linking issuers and investors, and connecting capital with ideas and opportunities.

Cutting through a complex world
We live in a world made ever-more complex by technology, regulation and shifting cultural and socio-economic patterns - fast, deep and constant change.

The global pandemic lingers on, there is ongoing geopolitical friction and black swan events continue to impact both the way we live, and sentiment across society and markets.

At the same time, disruptive new technologies and changing consumer behavior are transforming the world in front of our eyes.

For example, pandemic-related restrictions have cut back the business trips and company visits that were part of all our pre-pandemic working lives. In the field of Investor Relations, this has changed the IR toolbox.  

Strong, tech-savvy and proactive IR is now no longer just “good to have” – it is a must have in a changing world.

To build shareholder support and confidence, a company must provide timely and relevant insight to guide expectations and to ensure its strategy is understood and supported: a company must be able to tell a credible, compelling story that can be clearly heard through the noise.

Exchanges have a key role to play
That’s where exchanges have a key role to play in helping investor relations professionals, strengthening connectivity between issuers and investors.

Exchanges have a wealth of connections with the increasingly large global universe of publicly listed companies. At the end of Q1 2022, a total of 58,200 companies were listed on exchanges around the world, according to the World Federation of Exchanges, following a strong year for fundraising in 2021 when a record 3,022 companies listed and raised USD601.2 billion, according to Ernst and Young.

Exchanges can play a huge role in linking established and new issuers and investors with data and insight. ESG, in particular, is one area where HKEX has made great strides in recent years.

Aside from setting clear a framework and guidance for ESG disclosure in our capacity as a regulator, in our capacity as a market operator we launched he Sustainable and Green Exchange (STAGE) in December 2020, Asia’s first multi-asset sustainable investment product platform, to act as a central hub for data and information on sustainable and green financial products.

And we have gone further this year with our new repository, “Board Diversity & Inclusion in Focus,” a data platform providing insight into issuers’ board of directors, by age, gender and years of tenure that aims to help investors and other stakeholders stay informed of a business’ policy and approach to good governance and board diversity, as well as facilitating assessment of a company’s diversity performance against peers.

IR Connect: using innovation to connect issuers and investors
IR Connect is our latest innovation to empower investor relations professionals and connect issuers and investors.

Launching on July 7, IR Connect is an investor relations technology platform, developed in collaboration with S&P Global, that provides access to a wide range of listed issuer corporate information, ranging from market data to shareholder analysis and from ratings reports to earnings performance.
IR Connect offers an accessible, professional and cost-effective one-stop portal for Hong Kong-listed issuers, especially for small and medium sized companies, helping issuers to build connectivity, improve outreach and grow visibility within the investment community.

With IR Connect’s extensive resources, we believe the platform can help chart the future of investor relations, facilitate best-in-class investor relations practices among Hong Kong-listed companies, help investor relations professionals work smarter in an increasingly complex world, grow Hong Kong as an international financial centre and connect capital with opportunities as we build our vision of the Marketplace of the Future.

To learn more about IR Connect, join our Corporate Access Event on July 7 by registering here, check out the IR Connect site here, download our detailed IR Connect factsheet here and for further enquiries contact us at HKEXissuerservices@hkex.com.hk.

It has been a long time since IR buddies met together last time. Despite the heavy rainstorms these days, we were so lucky to do hiking on Friday evening with nice weather. Our group started the journey from Three Pacific Place at Admiralty. We passed by the high-rise residential buildings along Bowen Road, Magazine Gap Road and Garden Road in Mid-Levels. There were lots of evening joggers and some of them were with their dogs too! We enjoyed the night scene with a myriad twinkling lights of the city from The Peak. More importantly, we treasured the face-to-face interaction with the buddies during the whole journey. 

Not only are HKIRA members able to join HKIRA professional seminars and social networking events at a discounted members rate and exclusively access event presentation materials and industry information, but also privileged to enjoy special deals offered by HKIRA Partners.

HKIRA members can enjoy a three-month free trial for EQS IR COCKPIT with investor data, CRM, mailing and newswire modules.
 

HKIRA listed company members can enjoy a complimentary offer, to participate in the Biannual "Scaling New Heights Asia Investment Forum 2022" hosted by Financial PR. Please contact conference@financialpr.hk for more details.

       

HKIRA members can enjoy a complimentary messaging clinic on a first-come-first-served basis, a three-hour interactive session with the member company’s C-suite and IRO, to discuss compelling storytelling for better preparation of the mid-year announcement, as well as to define the company’s story in the wake of COVID-19

       

                        

HKIRA members can enjoy a 5% Newcomer Discount on irasia.com’s IR subscription services.