香港在ETF竞争中落后于亚洲对手

Policymakers in Hong Kong must act to strengthen its position as a regional hub for exchange traded funds or risk losing more ground to regional rivals, according to a government advisory body.

香港一个负责政策咨询的政府机构称，香港政策制定者必须采取行动、强化香港作为交易所交易基金(ETF)地区中心的地位，否则香港将会进一步失分于地区对手。

The warning by the Financial Services Development Council reflects concerns that competitors, including China, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, have outpaced Hong Kong in their efforts to promote ETFs.

香港金融发展局(Financial Services Development Council)的这一警告反映出，人们担心中国内地、韩国、台湾和新加坡等竞争对手在ETF推广力度上超过了香港。

In a report published last month, the advisory body wrote: “Hong Kong’s leadership position has been overtaken by Japan and Shanghai as they have introduced more innovative products. Other leading overseas markets have also enhanced their ETF platforms recently, offering an even broader range of ETFs.”

该局在10月发表的一份报告中写道：“日本和上海都推出了更多创新性产品，近年东京和上海的交投额都已超越香港。其他主要海外市场近来也提升了它们的ETF平台，销售更多品种的ETF。”

The report recommends wide-ranging reforms including measures to encourage more ETF use by pension funds and steps to boost the role of ETFs in capital flows between Hong Kong and mainland China.

该报告建议香港实施多项改革，包括鼓励养老基金加大采用ETF，以及让ETF在香港和内地之间的资本流动中发挥更大作用。

Hong Kong was the second market in Asia to launch ETFs in 1999 after the first listing in Tokyo in 1995. However, activity remains concentrated in just a few products. One fund alone, the iShares FTSE A50 China ETF, accounts for almost 40 per cent of all ETF turnover in Hong Kong.

1995年，亚洲首只ETF在东京挂牌。1999年，继东京之后，香港成为亚洲第二个发行ETF的市场。然而，交易仍局限在少数几个产品上。仅iShares安硕富时A50中国指数ETF(iShares FTSE A50 China ETF)这一只基金，便占据了香港ETF总成交量的近40%。

The local regulator is considering how to streamline the authorisation process to encourage more ETF launches. None of the top 20 fastest-growing ETFs launched in Asia this year were listed in Hong Kong, according to ETFGI, the consultancy.

香港监管机构正在考虑如何精简审批流程，以鼓励更多ETF发行。咨询公司ETFGI表示，今年亚洲发行的20只增长最快的ETF中，没有一只是在香港挂牌的。

Susan Chan, head of iShares Asia Pacific for BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, says launching more products is “just one part of the solution as improvements can be made across Hong Kong’s entire ETF ecosystem”.

世界最大基金管理公司贝莱德(BlackRock)的iShares安硕亚太区主管陈蕙兰(Susan Chan)表示，发行更多产品，“只是解决办法的一部分，香港整个ETF生态系统都有待改善”。

Ms Chan says a combination of measures, including regulatory changes and a greater focus on education, are needed to create more awareness of ETFs among investors and financial advisers.

陈蕙兰表示，要提高投资者和金融顾问对ETF的认识，香港需要采取一整套措施，包括监管改革和加大对ETF教育工作的重视。

ETF usage in the US accelerated after financial advisers were required to adopt a fee-based payment model instead of relying on commission (incentive) payments from fund managers. ETFs do not pay commissions, but financial advisers in Hong Kong still receive commissions to incentivise them to sell mutual funds. This has hindered ETF adoption.

在监管机构要求金融顾问采取以酬金为基础的收费模式，而不再依赖由基金管理公司支付佣金（提成奖励）之后，ETF在美国的使用加快了。ETF不支付佣金，但香港的金融顾问销售共同基金仍获得佣金激励。这妨碍了ETF的推广。

“It is early days for ETF adoption among individual financial advisers but there is rising sensitivity about fund fees and costs, which should benefit ETFs,” says Ms Chan.

“ETF在个人金融顾问中的推广仍处于初级阶段，但投资者对基金费用与成本日益敏感，这应会对ETF有利，”陈蕙兰表示。

Although there is no indication that the local regulator might change the rules, the private banking operations run by global operators including UBS, Credit Suisse, Crédit Agricole, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are moving away from paying retrocessions. All have reported big increases in their fee-based businesses in Asia.

尽管没有迹象表明香港监管机构可能改变规则，但瑞银(UBS)、瑞信(Credit Suisse)、法国农业信贷银行(Crédit Agricole)、摩根大通(JPMorgan)和高盛(Goldman Sachs)等跨国机构的私人银行业务都开始放弃佣金模式。财报显示，这些机构在亚洲以酬金为基础的业务均大幅增长。

“We are seeing tremendous increases in ETF usage on the discretionary managed platforms run by private banks, which are reporting significant growth in their fee-based business,” says Ms Chan.

“财报显示，私人银行以酬金为基础的业务显著增长。我们看到，在私人银行运营的全权委托管理平台上，ETF的使用显著增加，”陈蕙兰表示。

But ETF adoption among retail investors remains low.

但是，ETF在散户投资者当中的接受度仍很低。

“Mom-and-pop retail investors in Hong Kong just do not think about ETFs at the moment,” says Ms Chan.

“香港的散户投资者眼下压根儿不考虑ETF，” 陈蕙兰表示。

Deborah Fuhr, co-founder of ETFGI, says ETFs face tough competition in Hong Kong from structured products that are popular among retail investors because they boost returns and do not attract stamp duty.

ETFGI的共同创始人德博拉富尔(Deborah Fuhr)称，在香港，ETF面临着来自结构性产品的激烈竞争，后者因高回报率和无需缴纳印花税而受到散户的欢迎。

“The regulator does not permit leveraged or inverse ETFs to be listed in Hong Kong. But we know from elsewhere that leveraged ETFs are popular among retail investors as a way to amplify returns,” she says.

“监管机构不允许杠杆ETF和反向ETF在香港上市。但是我们从其他地方了解到，杠杆ETF作为一种扩大收益的方式而受到散户投资者的欢迎，”她称。

ETFs are also not widely used by pension fund managers. Regulators have only approved a limited number of these products for use by pension schemes, and fund managers are anxious to see these restrictions eased.

养老基金管理公司采用ETF也不多。监管机构只批准了有限数款ETF产品用于养老金计划，基金管理公司迫切希望看到这些限制得到解除。

“There are many low-cost ETFs that could potentially be added to the [approved] list,” says Stewart Aldcroft, Asia chief executive of CitiTrust, the securities and funds services arm of Citigroup, the US bank.

“现有有很多低成本ETF有可能加入（核准）列表，”美国花旗集团(Citigroup)旗下从事证券与基金服务的CitiTrust的亚洲首席执行官斯图尔特攠尔德克罗夫特(Stewart Aldcroft)称。

Mr Aldcroft, a contributor to the advisory body’s report, notes that pension fund assets across Asia have doubled since 2006, to $2.4tn, and are projected to almost double again to $4.3tn by 2030.

奥尔德克罗夫特是香港金融发展局这份报告的撰写人之一。他指出，自2006年以来，整个亚洲的养老基金资产规模已经增长一倍，至2.4万亿美元，有望在2030年年底前再增长近一倍，至4.3万亿美元。

“Pension funds are one of the potentially biggest sources of new capital for ETFs,” he says.

“养老基金是ETF最大的潜在新资金来源之一，”他称。

The inclusion of ETFs into the programme that links stock trading in Shanghai and Hong Kong could also be a “game changer”, according to Mr Aldcroft.

奥尔德克罗夫特表示，将ETF纳入“沪港通”项目，也可能“改变格局”。

This would help mainland Chinese investors to use Hong Kong-listed ETFs to gain exposure to international markets.

这将有助于内地投资者利用在香港上市的ETF建立对国际市场的敞口。

“Mainland investors are not allowed to invest in ETFs in other overseas markets directly. This poses enormous opportunities for Hong Kong-listed ETFs,” says Mr Aldcroft.

“政府不允许内地投资者直接投资其他海外市场的ETF。这给香港上市的ETF带来了巨大的机会，”奥尔德克罗夫称。

Asian hub ambition: Investors prefer the US or Europe for ETFs

亚洲中心的抱负：投资者眼下倾向于在美国或欧洲购买ETF

Hong Kong’s policymakers face significant challenges if they are to achieve their ambition of building the territory into an Asian hub for exchange traded funds.

如果香港的政策制定者想要实现将香港打造为亚洲ETF中心的抱负，他们面临着重大挑战。

Shelly Painter, regional managing director in Asia for Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager, says Asian institutional investors are making more use of ETFs but they prefer to trade in the US or Europe.

全球第二大资产管理公司先锋(Vanguard)的亚洲业务董事总经理谢莉椠因特(Shelly Painter)称，亚洲机构投资者正在加大使用ETF，但是它们倾向于在美国或欧洲交易。

“Liquidity is much better and trading costs are lower in London and New York for large Asian investors,” she says.

“对亚洲投资机构者来说，伦敦和纽约的流动性要好得多，交易成本也更低，”她称。

Daily ETF trading volumes in Hong Kong were running at $500m in October, around half the ETF business being done in Shanghai and a quarter of the activity in Tokyo. Trading volumes in the US were $80bn.

10月，香港ETF日均交易量为5亿美元，大约是上海的一半，东京的四分之一。美国的交易量为800亿美元。

Persuading international fund managers to cross-list some of their most popular US and European-domiciled products would encourage more ETF adoption.

说服国际基金管理公司将其在美国和欧洲上市的一些最受欢迎的产品在香港交叉上市，将鼓励投资者更多地采用ETF。

Supervisors in Hong Kong are open to the extension of more mutual recognition arrangements to ETFs domiciled in other countries but they insist that ETF portfolio managers should be employed in the territory, which is an additional layer of expense for international providers.

香港监管机构愿意将更多互认安排推广到在其他国家上市的ETF上，但是他们坚持认为ETF的投资组合管理者应从香港本地聘请，而这对国际基金管理公司构成一项额外成本。

“They want to see boots on the ground running ETFs in Hong Kong,” says Ms Painter.

“他们希望看到有人员在香港实地管理ETF，”佩因特称。

Investors have been pulling money out of ETFs listed in Hong Kong this year, with outflows reaching $845m by the end of October. In contrast, South Korea and Taiwan have attracted inflows of $2.3bn and $1.5bn respectively in 2015.

今年，在香港上市的ETF出现资金净流出，截至10月底资金净流出达到8.45亿美元。相反，今年头10个月，韩国和台湾分别吸引了23亿美元和15亿美元的资金净流入。