Recent disclosures by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) regarding responses to proposals from the 2025 National People's Congress sessions highlight the focus on private enterprise development. Private businesses are a vital indicator of China's economic dynamism and a recurring topic for delegates. In its reply to the proposal on leveraging Hong Kong's financial strengths to empower high-quality private sector growth, the CSRC stated it would enhance regulatory coordination under existing frameworks. It plans to improve regular communication mechanisms with overseas regulators, boost the efficiency of filing management, support overseas financing for companies, and assist firms in utilizing domestic and international markets and resources to integrate more openly into the global economy.
Throughout 2025, from the national congress sessions to subsequent policy implementations, support for the private economy has intensified. A comprehensive set of measures covering legal safeguards, market environment improvements, resource support, and innovation incentives has taken shape. This policy warmth is translating into positive market feedback—Hong Kong's stock exchange regained its position as the world's top venue for IPO fundraising in 2025, with mainland private enterprises accounting for a significant portion.
The official responses demonstrate that guiding capital flows through institutional openness can achieve multiple wins in national strategy, regional development, and corporate growth. This can be observed from three perspectives.
First, policy packages are addressing key bottlenecks for private firms expanding overseas. Since the implementation of the overseas listing filing system, inter-departmental coordination has improved efficiency, with rules continuously refined. From leading mainland companies smoothly completing Hong Kong listing filings to more transparent procedures, policy stability has strengthened. By the end of March 2025, the CSRC had issued filing notices to 117 companies planning Hong Kong listings, with 99 completing filings and raising a total of HKD 118.1 billion. These figures reflect a shift from predictability to high efficiency in filing management.
Concurrently, financial regulators in banking, insurance, and foreign exchange have responded to private enterprise needs, building a service matrix covering the entire overseas expansion lifecycle. From streamlined cross-border financing to enhanced insurance for overseas projects, and from exchange rate risk management to cross-border fund flow support, a system characterized by openness and risk control is taking shape. This framework enables private firms to navigate the complex global economic environment with both ambition and stability.
Second, the Hong Kong market is acting as an accelerator for corporate governance upgrades. For private enterprises transitioning between old and new growth drivers, Hong Kong's value extends beyond fundraising—it serves as a platform for internalizing international rules, upgrading governance, and hedging risks. The listing process in Hong Kong inherently involves deep integration with global capital standards. For example, in 2025, the Hong Kong Exchange's mandatory climate disclosure policy took effect, presenting new challenges for mainland companies. This requires listed firms to provide quantifiable, verifiable data rather than relying on narrative statements. Meanwhile, listing in Hong Kong is pushing private enterprises to improve their modern corporate systems.
Third, financial institutions are partnering with private firms to explore new opportunities abroad. The CSRC's reply clarified that financial regulators will continue guiding banks, securities, and insurance sectors to align with private enterprise demands, strengthen cooperation with Hong Kong financial institutions, innovate in financial products and services, and offer comprehensive support for overseas market expansion, international competitiveness, and trade dispute resolution.
Enhancing services for private firms' global expansion is both a mission tied to high-level opening-up and an intrinsic requirement for financial institutions' own internationalization. Specifically, institutions can focus on four areas: expanding service networks into regions where private firms cluster; strengthening compliance defenses through legal and anti-money laundering expertise, offering compliance advice and exchange rate hedging to plug risk gaps; building ecosystems via deeper collaboration with overseas chambers of commerce and local financial institutions, providing integrated services including IPO financing, investment mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border asset transfers; and leveraging connectivity between mainland and Hong Kong capital markets to help private enterprises diversify funding and investment channels. Through coordinated efforts in these areas, financial institutions and private firms can resonate together, jointly exploring broader international markets.
The 2025 data reflects market response to supportive policies; the plans for 2026 represent a declaration of confidence amid deepening reforms. As China enters the first year of its 15th Five-Year Plan period, a more confident and open capital market is rapidly taking shape, with more private enterprises leveraging Hong Kong's financial advantages to transform. This spring's policy responses are becoming a solid foundation for private firms going global. From this new starting point, there is anticipation for more collaborative success stories in the seasons ahead.