Letters | Can Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund capture the growth of tomorrow?

Readers discuss the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s investment strategy in comparison with Singapore’s Temasek, Australia’s media bargaining mechanism, and Chinese New Year Cup ticketing

Reading Time:3 minutes

Robin Zeng (centre), chairman of CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, strikes the gong at the listing ceremony in Hong Kong on May 20. Photo: AP

Published: 11:30am, 24 Feb 2026

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words

The 2026 Forbes Hong Kong rich list offers a snapshot of the city’s economic elite and it looks remarkably like that from a decade ago. Li Ka-shing retains his crown via a conglomerate rooted in ports and property. The Lee, Kwok and Cheng families follow close behind, their fortunes anchored to real estate, sauces and jewellery.

The American rich list tells a different story. The Magnificent Seven (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia) command about a third of the S&P 500’s weighting. The likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates didn’t just get rich; they reshaped the global economy through technological innovation, with their companies’ stocks skyrocketing over the past decade.

This highlights a paradox at the heart of Hong Kong’s financial psyche. While our tycoons built their wealth on land and leverage, the engine of global wealth creation has fundamentally shifted to bits and bytes. And yet, there are undeniable signs that the city itself is ready for this shift.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) had a landmark 2025. Driven by the DeepSeek moment, two-thirds of new listings were from sectors like artificial intelligence and biotech. The exchange is pivoting towards the future.

This brings us to the city’s largest investor: the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Managing over HK$4 trillion in the Exchange Fund, the HKMA is the heavyweight of local finance. It posted a respectable 8 per cent return last year, but one must ask: can a portfolio so heavily weighted towards traditional investment vehicles capture the growth of tomorrow?

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Can Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund capture the growth of tomorrow?

Letters | Can Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund capture the growth of tomorrow?