- Brokerage plans to double Hong Kong headcount in 2-3 years
- Chinese offshore wealth drives demand for services in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong market attracts Chinese IPOs amid U.S. trade tensions
HONG KONG, June 3 (Reuters) - Tiger Brokers plans to double its headcount in Hong Kong over the next two to three years as the online brokerage targets a bigger share of the growing offshore Chinese wealth in the financial hub, its chief executive said.
The Singapore-headquartered firm, founded in 2014 in Beijing, currently employs 60 people in Hong Kong, where it started operations in late 2022, founder and CEO Tinahua Wu told Reuters late Monday.
"Hong Kong is a very important global financial centre and it's not only about the several million local residents," Wu said. Tiger's parent firm UP Fintech Holding was listed in the U.S. in 2019.
"It is because it's backed by China," the 40-year-old former tech veteran said, adding that growing accumulation of Chinese wealth offshore needs investment services.
Securities trading activities have risen in the offshore Chinese market since Beijing started to unveil a slew of stimulus last September, a trend which has not been dampened by the global trade tensions, according to Wu.
Mainland investors have poured HK$651 billion ($83 billion) into Hong Kong-listed shares via the Southbound Stock Connect so far this year, more than double the HK$283 billion during the same period last year, CICC analysts said in a note on Tuesday.
The capital inflows augurs well for local brokerages closely connected to clients in China, the world's second-largest economy, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war weighs on investor appetite for U.S. assets.
The buoyant Hong Kong market has attracted some companies such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group to foray into Hong Kong by acquiring a 50.55% stake in local broker Bright Smart in April.
As more Chinese high-net worth individuals set up family offices in Hong Kong and domestic companies increasingly seek to expand offshore, Wu said Tiger expects sizable growth in demand from both individual and corporate clients.
Tiger holds more than $50 billion worth of assets globally and operates in markets beyond Hong Kong, including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.
OFFSHORE EXPANSION
The brokerage's assets under custody, a key measure of client holdings in Tiger's Hong Kong accounts, quadrupled in the first quarter of 2025 from the same period last year, according to data provided by the company.
Strong pipeline of initial public listings in Hong Kong with "star" Chinese firms coming to raise funds in the city has also resulted in heightened interest in buying and trading new shares, Wu said.
Tiger and its online brokerage rival Futu Holdings' offshore business have rapidly expanded in recent years amid heightened regulatory scrutiny.
This followed Beijing's rule in 2023 that barred brokers from onboarding new mainland clients without offshore trading accounts to trade securities in markets such as the United States and Hong Kong.
The brokerages now offer trading services to their mainland China clients through their offshore accounts.
When asked whether the regulatory move accelerated the firm's plan to internationalise, Wu said Tiger's "mission from day one is to become a global top broker" and its overseas expansion is "not a passive move".
Tiger does not hold a licence to operate in China's onshore market, but maintains a research and development centre in Beijing.
"When the game rules became clear, it benefits business," Wu said. "To any entrepreneur, that's a load off our mind".
($1 = 7.8435 Hong Kong dollars)
Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
Source: Reuters