Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) will publish information about the exchange rates for Hong Kong dollars (HKD) against renminbi (RMB)* and US dollars (USD) on its website commencing from 29 November 2010 for calculation of stamp duty and other trading-related fees, including transaction levy, investor compensation levy (currently exempted) and trading fee, on transactions in the respective currencies in its securities market.  

Under Hong Kong’s Stamp Duty Ordinance, when stamp duty has to be “calculated in respect of any instrument by reference to a sum of money expressed in a currency other than Hong Kong dollars, there shall, for the purpose of such calculation, be substituted for that sum of money its equivalent expressed in Hong Kong dollars at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date of the instrument” and the prevailing rate will be “as determined by the Monetary Authority.”  

Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department has advised HKEx that the exchange rates for HKD against RMB and USD for stamp duty calculation will be made available to HKEx by 11 am or earlier on each trading day.  For easy reference by market participants, the exchange rates will be published on the HKEx website.  To help simplify the operations of HKEx and its Participants, the same exchange rates will be used to calculate other trading-related fees for transactions in RMB and USD concluded on the same trading day.

The HKEx website will carry HKD exchange rates against currencies other than RMB and USD if necessary.

*   HKEx’s trading system and other market systems use the currency code CNY for renminbi.

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