Rachel Evans
Asia editor
"They want to be the next Nasdaq, but there's a good chance they will languish and fail," says one in-house counsel. When Nasdaq was set up in 1971, it was intended as a secondary exchange for over-the-counter trades and growing companies that couldn't meet the standards of the New York Stock Exchange. Nasdaq now hosts a greater volume of trades per hour than any other stock exchange (approximately 1.8 billion).
It's a success story that exchanges in Asia would like to replicate. But so far launches like Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (Gem) have been damp squibs. In 2008, 47 companies listed on Hong Kong's main board; Gem attracted two. However, undiscouraged, Shenzhen and Tokyo are reportedly planning secondary boards. Singapore relaunched its secondary board last year and Hong Kong is rethinking Gem.
Lawyers polled for this month's Big Question are not optimistic about these new...