As a gateway to Mainland China and with close trading and business links to other Asian economies, Hong Kong is strategically positioned as a regional financial center and has provided many Asian and multinational companies with fund-raising opportunities. Companies in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan and other countries and areas consider Hong Kong an ideal place to raise capital and get listed for daily trading. Security firms from all around globe come to Hong Kong to conduct financial services. It plays a critical role together with New York and London to form the sleepless and none-stop market place of financial trading.

There are three key organizations that are conducting the daily operations of Hong Kong's financial market,namely the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited and Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited. HKEx is the holding company of the three above, which links all financial institutions worldwide and has transformed Hong Kong's financial services industry from a domestically focused industry to the global player as it is today.

The history of the securities exchange began formally in the late 19th century with the first establishment in 1891, though informal securities exchanges have been known to take place since 1861. The exchange has predominantly been the main exchange for Hong Kong despite co-existing with other exchanges at different point in time. After a series of complex mergers and acquisitions, Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) remains to be the core. Pressure to strengthen market regulation and to unify the four exchanges led to the incorporation of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 1980. The four exchanges ceased business on 27 March 1986 and the new exchange commenced trading through a computer-assisted system on 2 April 1986.

Established in 1976, Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited is a derivatives leader in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides efficient and diversified markets for trading futures and options contracts by its more than 130 participant organizations, including many that are affiliated to international financial institutions.

Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited was incorporated in 1989. It created CCASS, the central clearing and settlement system, which started operating in 1992 and became the central counterparty for all CCASS participants.

With the strong economic growth in Hong Kong and Mainland China, the HKEx securities markets performed strongly and set new records year after year. By the end of 2007, the total market capitalization of the securities market in Hong Kong, including the Main Board and the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), reached HK$21 trillion. In 2007, HKEx was ranked 4th by total equity funds raised, and 5th by market capitalization, among all stock exchanges worldwide.