Hong Kong securities watchdog will propose a subset of tokens it would allow for retail investors' trading, its chief executive said on Wednesday, as it presses on with a new regulatory regime that will make the city more friendly to crypto startups, Reuters reported. As investor protection will continue to be the focus of the new virtual asset service provider (VSAP) regime, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will also seek public views about specific guardrails for retail trading, said Julia Leung, chief executive officer at the commision.

Hong Kong is making a pitch to multinational companies to list on its stock market, despite heightened tensions between China and the West, the Wall Street Journal reported. The city’s stock exchange hopes a new initiative that allows mainland Chinese investors to trade shares of international companies will present a compelling case for some of the world’s largest businesses to raise funds in the Asian financial hub.

A tender for the sale of embattled China Evergrande Group's headquarters in Hong Kong has lapsed again, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, because the offer prices and terms fell short of requirements, Reuters reported. Lenders to the office tower, China Evergrande Centre, valued at between HK$8 billion and HK$9 billion ($1.02 billion and $1.15 billion), appointed a receiver in September to seize the asset and tender it for sale with a bid deadline of Oct 31.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday raised its base rate charged through the overnight discount window by 50 basis points to 4.75%, hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered a rate hike of the same margin, Reuters reported. The U.S. central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point and projected at least an additional 75 basis points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of 2023, as well as a rise in unemployment and a near-stalling of economic growth. "Rate hike in the U.S.

The billionaire co-founder of Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd is wanted in the United States accused of paying kickbacks to obtain permits for a construction project in San Francisco, a court in London heard on Monday, Reuters reported. Zhang Li, the chief executive of Hong Kong-listed developer R&F, is wanted on a provisional warrant issued in the Northern District of California, which accuses him of participating in a scheme to bribe public officials between 2015 and 2020. Ben Lloyd, representing U.S.

Li Lin, the founder of crypto exchange Huobi Global, is lending up to $14 million to a Hong Kong company he controls after FTX's sudden bankruptcy prevented the firm from accessing $18.1 million worth of cryptocurrencies. New Huo Technology, a digital-assets service platform that used to be called Huobi Technology, said on Monday that the amount includes $13.2 million in customers' assets and $4.9 million that belongs to one of its subsidiaries, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Hong Kong's audit regulator said on Monday that it has initiated an enquiry into the financial statements of China Evergrande Group's property services unit and its former auditor after questions were raised following the developer's probe into seized deposits worth $2 billion of the unit, Reuters reported.

Economists downgraded their forecasts for Hong Kong’s economy, predicting it could contract for the third time in four years, after data Monday showed growth is being weighed down by Covid restrictions and a slump in trade, Bloomberg News reported. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects gross domestic product to decline 0.5% in 2022, down from an earlier prediction of 0.3% growth. Bloomberg Economics now sees GDP shrinking 0.6% compared with a previous projection of 0.7% expansion.

Distressed Hong Kong property tycoon Pan Sutong was told by the city’s high court to go bankrupt, marking another blow to the former billionaire, Bloomberg News reported. The court ordered Pan to unwind his holding company, Silver Starlight Ltd, after he and the firm failed to pay creditors including China Citic Bank Corp HK$8 billion (US$1 billion) that was due in 2019, according to a court filing Friday. A representative for Pan said on Monday he is appealing the order.

Hong Kong's financial watchdog is tightening oversight on derivatives markets after the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, a senior official at the city's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Archegos, a U.S.-based family office of investor Bill Hwang which had $36 billion in assets, blew up last year when it was caught short on highly leveraged trades and left global banks with $10 billion in losses.