Some months ago, when Joe Tsai of Alibaba addressed a seminar in Hong Kong on his firm’s financial strategy, the first hand that shot up when he invited questions belonged to a Hong Kong insurance regulator. “You say you are interested in internet insurance,” the bureaucrat said. “I want to make sure when you come to Hong Kong, you get a proper licence.” On the YouTube recording of the event, the shocked laughter of the audience is clearly discernible as Mr Tsai graciously responds: “If we do come, we will get a licence — and seek your advice.”
Then, just a few days ago, Mr Tsai’s partner, Jack Ma, criticised the listing rules for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as “designed decades ago for property developers, financiers and traditional retailers and?.?.?.?not relevant to start-ups and new businesses”. He may have been motivated, in part, by his own run-ins with the local rules: the territory refused to amend its regulations to permit Alibaba’s proposed structure, so it listed in New York. But his remarks still resonated with investors in the territory.
Similarly, the co-founder of a fintech firm in Shanghai with Alibaba links recently gave an interview to a Shanghai paper in which he noted that, at some point, his firm might consider establishing an office in Hong Kong. To his surprise, he soon received a message from a different bureaucrat in the Hong Kong government, reminding him of the licenses he would require. The message he took from this, he says, is: “You are not welcome here.”