Financial regulators in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Wednesday launched the platform and nominee services of the Integrated Fund Platform (IFP).
The platform is set to be a key milestone for the sustainable development of the asset-and-wealth management industry by building an efficient, connected and scalable investment fund distribution ecosystem in the SAR.
The IFP now supports a more end-to-end digitalized fund distribution workflow that will help reduce operational friction, improve market efficiency, and lower barriers for fund managers to reach a broader distribution network. On Wednesday, fund subscription and redemption by distributors, including brokers on behalf of their clients, become operational.
“We will continue to work closely with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the industry to ensure the platform delivers practical benefits to fund managers, distributors and, ultimately, investors. We encourage more market participants to join the platform and to explore how the new services can support the growth of Hong Kong’s assets under management (AUM),” Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said at the launch ceremony.
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Hong Kong is the world’s largest cross-border wealth management center, and AUM reached a record-high of HK$42.2 trillion ($5.4 trillion) as at the end of 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 20 percent. Net fund inflows almost tripled year-on-year to HK$2.1 trillion with investors from outside the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong accounting for more than half of total AUM.
“With more capital coming to Asia, we want to make sure that we offer greater choice, easier access, and a more seamless experience when doing business in our markets, including when investing in funds,” HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan Yi-ting said.
SFC Investment Products Division Executive Director Elisa Ng Ka-li said: “With the launch of the platform and nominee services, the IFP has reached an important goal with all its key services in operation. The platform is expected to generate tangible value by enhancing market efficiency and facilitating new fund distribution relationships.
“Over the longer term, IFP is also expected to spur wider investor participation in the Hong Kong fund market as it will help diversify fund distribution channels. This should help attract a more diverse, continuous base of domestic and cross-border capital, and cement Hong Kong’s ranking as a global leader in wealth management.”
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The SAR government in the 2023 Policy Address proposed the IFP, developed by HKEX with the support of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the SFC, as a key piece of financial market infrastructure.
The IFP’s fund repository, launched in December 2024, and its order routing service, introduced in July 2025, have already enhanced transparency and begun connecting distributors and transfer agents.
Building on these services, the new platform and nominee services form an integrated, business-to-business market infrastructure connecting market participants through standardized workflows and information exchange.
Since the order routing service launch, when IFP welcomed an initial cohort of 33 participants, its participant base has grown to over 60 distributors, fund houses and transfer agents, HKEX said.
The distributors that have been on-boarded onto the IFP include licensed corporations that are eligible to service investors under the Cross-Boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the SFC said.
Contact the writers at oswald@chinadailyhk.com
