The Isle of Man has been added to the list of approved jurisdictions for the listing of its companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, increasing its competitiveness as an offshore jurisdiction after Jersey gained such approval last October.

In the Isle of Man’s case, companies incorporated under the two main bodies of company legislation – the Companies Acts 1931-2004 and the Companies Act 2006 – have been accepted for listing on the HKSE.

The development was achieved on the basis of equivalence in investor and shareholder protection standards between the Isle of Man and Hong Kong, with the additional requirement that the Isle of Man be a signatory to the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding, a global information-sharing arrangement among securities regulators. 

Last September the HKSE published streamlined procedures for the listing of overseas companies, prior to which a much more restrictive policy applied. In gaining the ability to list, the Isle of Man joins jurisdictions including Jersey, Bermuda, the Caymans, the UK, Cyprus, Germany, Luxembourg, Singapore, Australia and the BVI.