Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) today reported its financial results for the quarter and nine months to end-September 2020, with revenues and profit marking a rise from a year earlier.

• Profit attributable to shareholders was a nine-month record high of $8,580 million, up 16% frm the result registered in the first nine months of 2019.
• Stock Connect saw record nine-month revenue and other income in YTD Q3 2020 (that is, the first months of 2020) as both Northbound and Southbound Trading volumes reached record highs.
• Revenue and other income for YTD Q3 2020 rose by 12% against YTD Q3 2019, to $14.1 billion.

The increase in trading and clearing fees was partly offset by lower fair value gains on collective investment schemes of $71 million ($643 million in YTD Q3 2019), reflecting the performance of the global equity and fixed income markets.

Operating expenses increased by 11% compared with the prior period. Excluding HKEX Foundation charitable expenses of $57 million, operating expenses were up 9% against YTD Q3 2019, mainly due to higher staff costs from annual payroll adjustments and increased headcount arising from the acquisition of BayConnect in June 2019, higher IT and computer maintenance expenses for new IT systems and upgraded networks, and higher professional fees incurred for strategic projects and other business initiatives.

For Q3 2020, driven by the increased Cash Market trading activities, revenue and other income reached a quarterly record high of $5.3 billion, up 11% against Q2 2020. The increase in trading and clearing fees from higher headline ADT (up 24% from Q2 2020) was partly offset by lower net investment income, driven by lower fair value gains of collective investment schemes and lower investment return of the internally-managed funds.

The Group maintained its focus on delivering upon its Strategic Plan 2019-2021, while continuing to adopt a prudent approach to cost control and risk management.

It is the Group’s practice to declare a dividend only at the half-year and year-end, so no dividend will be proposed for the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2019: $Nil).