Saturday, July 25, 2026

Hong Kong's lawmakers got a week of classes in Beijing and a clear message to carry home. Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (Beijing's top body overseeing the city), met the Legislative Council delegation on July 24 during their national affairs study visit. LegCo president Starry Lee said the "high-quality lectures and on-site teaching" would help members discharge their duties and that they would return with "a broader vision and holistic approach" in working with the government. The group flew back to Hong Kong on July 25 (via RTHK).

Chief Executive John Lee is about to do the talking himself. Lee will hold an informal exchange session with lawmakers on July 28, opening with his own thoughts on "patriots governing Hong Kong" before throwing the floor open to any topic, in what officials are billing as a relaxed, direct dialogue rather than a set-piece (via RTHK).

A reminder of how tightly election conduct is now policed: a Hong Kong man, Wong Kin-kwok, was handed a two-month suspended jail term for sharing online posts by overseas activists that urged people to boycott the Legislative Council election. The case turned on laws that criminalise inciting others to skip or spoil their votes, and the court accepted the sentence could be suspended given his circumstances (via HKFP).

The exchange operator just widened the door for companies wanting to list. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX, which runs the city's stock market) confirmed its biggest listing overhaul in eight years: every new IPO applicant can now file confidentially, a privilege previously reserved for secondary listings and certain tech and biotech names, so candidates only reveal the full prospectus once the exchange has cleared them. It also loosened the rules for founder-friendly dual-class shares, cutting the market-cap bar for weighted voting rights to HK$20 billion (about US$2.6 billion) from HK$40 billion, and lowering the revenue-test route to HK$6 billion in market cap (about US$770 million) plus HK$600 million in revenue. "This reform is a major step in enhancing the flexibility and diversity of Hong Kong's listing regime," said HKEX listing head Katherine Ng (via SCMP).

The city's insurers are having a banner year, and the reason is the very rich. Hong Kong life insurance policy sales jumped about 50 percent in the first half to roughly US$22.3 billion, the most since the Insurance Authority was set up in 2016, as affluent mainland and overseas buyers plus family offices poured money into longevity and legacy products. The boom leans heavily on wealthy clients, which is also its risk if cross-border capital flows tighten (via SCMP).

Hong Kong is fast becoming the listing venue of choice for China's artificial-intelligence stars. Moonshot AI, the Beijing company behind the Kimi K3 model that has rattled Silicon Valley, is speeding up a fundraising round it aims to close at around a US$30 billion valuation, clearing the runway for a planned Hong Kong initial public offering. A source told the paper the firm may open a further round as early as August (via SCMP).

Investors are already rewarding the AI buildout with real money. Shares in Z.ai, the Hong Kong-listed developer formerly known as Zhipu, surged 37 percent after it finished a giant one-gigawatt computing centre run on Chinese-made chips, the kind of hardware it needs to train and serve its GLM models. The jump is a bet that homegrown silicon can keep China's AI labs running despite tightening US export controls (via SCMP).

Keep an eye on the sky this weekend. The Observatory has hoisted Standby Signal No. 1 for severe tropical storm Noul and warned the Strong Wind Signal No. 3 could go up this afternoon. The storm was more than 300 kilometres away on July 25 and is forecast to make landfall in eastern Guangdong, near Huizhou to Jieyang, early Sunday, but it is already whipping up dangerous swells, and the public has been told to stay away from the shoreline and water sports (via RTHK).

Rents are going up for the city's public tenants. The Housing Authority's Subsidised Housing Committee approved a 2.04 percent increase from October, affecting more than 800,000 households, with individual bills rising between HK$10 and HK$128 a month and adding about HK$540 million (roughly US$69 million) a year in rental income. Committee chairman Stephen Cheung called the rise "quite mild and acceptable," noting it lagged both inflation and recent minimum-wage gains, and tenants in hardship can apply to the Rent Assistance Scheme (via The Standard).

Flying out of Hong Kong is about to cost more. Cathay Pacific will raise its fuel surcharges by up to 41 percent from August, blaming a fresh spike in jet fuel prices tied to Middle East tensions. Long-haul routes to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Southwest Pacific jump from HK$965 to HK$1,362 (about US$174) per ticket, while mainland China flights rise 20 percent; the airline says the levies still sit below their earlier 2026 peak and are reviewed every two weeks (via RTHK).

A disturbing recruitment scheme has the Philippine consulate on alert. Officials in Hong Kong are investigating claims that Filipino domestic workers were signed up through social media adverts to serve as surrogate mothers for couples in Central Asia. At least five women say they were promised up to 1 million pesos (about US$16,220) but were left unpaid after carrying pregnancies to term, according to the workers who came forward. Labour attache Cesar Chavez Jr. said talks with Hong Kong authorities are at an early stage (via SCMP).

There may soon be more of a safety net for helpers who lose their jobs and their housing at once. A new shelter for Filipino domestic workers is ready to open and is waiting only on government approval, a potential lifeline for workers who, under Hong Kong rules, must leave the city within two weeks of a contract ending (via SCMP).