Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited (HKEx) Chairman Ronald Arculli said on Wednesday that the body may consider providing more services to Chinese mainland issuers to help them better understand its rules and regulations.

Launching the latest issue of HKEx's quarterly newsletter on Wednesday, Arculli said his priority is to uphold the interests of shareholders and those of the investing public. HKEx can secure good returns for its shareholders by improving its services, he added.

"Organically growing quality products and services, both to issuers and investors, will ultimately set our Exchange apart from others," he said.

"One of the areas we might consider improving is to provide more services to the Chinese mainland issuers so they are well acquainted with our rules and regulations."

He said HKEx will also continue its marketing and promotional activities on the Chinese mainland and elsewhere to attract potential issuers and investors.

"I hope HKEx can take advantage of the many significant opportunities presented to it in the future, particularly given our strong relationship with the Chinese mainland.

"We will be exploring this room for development and other opportunities in the next three-year strategic plan, which the board and management are in the process of formulating, as the existing one comes to a successful completion," he said.

A total of 335 Chinese mainland companies had listed in HKEx by the end of 2005 and the number of listed mainland enterprises accounted for over 30 percent of the enterprises listed in Hong Kong by the end of 2005.

The traded volume of the listed Chinese mainland companies accounted for 46 percent of the HKEx's total. In addition, all of the top 10 initial public offering (IPO) ventures in HKEx's history came from the Chinese mainland.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2006)