Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has announced plans to become a strategic shareholder of CMU OmniClear, the operator of one of the territory’s two CSDs. The acquisition will see HKEX take a 20 per cent stake in the CSD while the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) retains the remaining 80 per cent.
HKMA reveals in a press release that its stake would be acquired through the subscription of new shares. According to a report by South China Morning Post, the shares could amount to “as much as HK$455 million (US$58.5 million)”.
CMU OmniClear was established in 2024 to handle the operations and business development activities of the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) system, Hong Kong’s CSD infrastructure. The organisation has so far been wholly owned by HKMA subsidiary, Exchange Fund.
The acquisition aims to strengthen Hong Kong’s capital markets financial infrastructure and advance the long-term development of Hong Kong’s fixed income and currencies (FIC) ecosystem. The partnership between HKMA and HKEX is expected to support “the continued commercialisation of CMU and the pursuit of business development initiatives in areas such as expansion of its investor CSD services, asset classes coverage, and collateral management services, with the goal of enhancing cross-asset class efficiency in Hong Kong”.
