Honk Kong and Shenzhen – Asia Pacific Stock Exchange (APX), a wholly owned subsidiary of AIMS Financial Group (AIMS) today announced a significant development in APX’s objective and strategy to act as a new venue and link between trading participants, corporates and investors throughout Asia.

AIMS Financial Group will be the first Australian company admitted by the Chinese government to Qianhai, a special economic zone situated in Shenzhen near Hong Kong.  Announced by the Chinese Government last month, Qianhai is designed to be an international financial services centre, with special operating conditions on currency movements and other incentives, and strong connectivity to Hong Kong and other professional services, international capital markets and the growing Chinese economy.

Mr George Wang, chairman and chief executive of APX parent company, AIMS Financial Group, said “This is an important milestone for APX.  It places APX at the centre of a region of enormous activity and potential listings, in an internationally connected financial services hub.  It will significantly help APX in its goals of attracting listings and establishing APX as an alternative listing venue for entrepreneurial companies looking to publicly list and access new capital for growth. 

“Longer term, we see enormous potential in enabling RMB denominated trading on our Australian based and Australian regulatory controlled exchange, and our Qinghai base will be crucial in this,” Mr Wang said.

With a goal of commencing operations later this year, APX will offer a new venue for corporates from around the Asian region looking to list, raise capital and be publicly traded. APX will operate under Australian regulatory standards and rules.  In particular, APX will offer Chinese market participants an alternative listing venue to the Shanghai, Shenzhen and HongKong stock exchanges.

APX is also developing a board of sponsors who will work to provide support to listees.  APX Sponsors are experts ranging from brokers to accountants and lawyers, familiar with the requirements and rules relevant to companies listing on an exchange for the first time.

To formally mark AIMS Financial Group admission to Qianhai, AIMS CEO George Wang has taken part in a signing ceremony with senior officials from the Central Government, Guandong province and the Secretary and Mayor of Shenzhen at a ceremony on 16th of July in Hong Kong.