Sales of non-exchange-traded investment products surged 63% year-on-year (YoY) to an all-time high of $9.9 trillion in 2025, driven by a record level of market participation with strong demand for fixed-income, currency and commodity (FICC)-related products, according to the annual joint survey by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (Notes 1 and 2).
Record numbers of participating clients and firms propelled the strong growth in the total transaction amount (Note 3). The number of clients who completed at least one transaction in non-exchange-traded investment products jumped by 33% to more than 1.6 million (Note 4), while the number of licensed corporations (LCs) and registered institutions (RIs) engaged in investment product sale grew by 9% to 452. Notably, the number of large firms increased by 27% to 128 (Note 5).
Collective investment schemes (CIS) (up 85%) and structured products (up 53%) were both key engines for record-breaking sales. Notably, CIS overtook structured products for the first time as the top-selling product type since 2020.
FICC-related products played a central role in investors’ asset allocations as the investors continued to favour income-generating assets and liquidity-management solutions amidst fast-changing market conditions. Money market funds accounted for 88% of the top five CIS sales reported by the large firms, up from 80% in 2024. Currency-linked product sales also increased by 50% YoY to $698 billion.
Debt securities sales continued on a solid long-term growth trajectory, up 43% from 2022. The growth was primarily driven by sovereign bonds (up 138%) and investment-grade corporate bonds (up 43%). Chinese Mainland-related issuers were the leading contributors to corporate bond transactions, illustrating Hong Kong’s vital role as an offshore fund-raising hub.
“The new records of sales and market participation reflect global investors’ confidence in Hong Kong as a leading international financial centre. The robust performance of FICC-related products also underscores the city’s evolving role as an up-and-coming FICC hub,” said Dr Eric Yip, the SFC’s Executive Director of Intermediaries. “By grasping new industry trends, the SFC will continue to collaborate closely with stakeholders to drive the quality growth of Hong Kong's financial ecosystem.”
“The strong growth captured in this year’s survey is a clear testament to investor confidence in Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management industry,” said Mr Kenneth Hui, Executive Director (Banking Conduct) of the HKMA. “The HKMA will continue to adopt a balanced, proportionate regulatory approach, to ensure robust investor protection while fostering a positive customer experience and supporting the industry’s continued growth.”
Other major observations from the survey included:
- CIS – the top-selling product type – accounted for 42% ($4.1 trillion) of the total transaction amount in 2025. Structured products and debt securities ranked second and third, making up 40% ($3.9 trillion) and 9% ($929 billion), respectively.
- Equity-linked products continued to dominate structured product sales, with the transaction amount rising 58% YoY to $2.7 trillion and accounting for 70% of structured products sold in 2025 (2024: 67%). The major underlying equities of the top five products were from the technology (44%), internet (20%) and automotive (18%) sectors, according to the large firms.
- Product distribution became increasingly digitalised, as online sales accounted for 21% (2024: 17%) of the aggregate transaction amount. The number of respondent firms distributing investment products online increased by 17% to 122 in 2025. CIS remained the top product type sold online, making up 84% of the total online sales, followed by debt securities at 11%.
Notes:
- The annual survey questionnaires were sent to 2,502 LCs and 109 RIs licensed or registered for Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 4 (advising on securities) or both regulated activities, and more than 99% of them responded. The survey covered the sale of non-exchange-traded investment products from 1 January to 31 December 2025 (the reporting period) by respondent firms to non-professional investor clients, individual professional investors (PIs) and certain corporate PIs. The first SFC-HKMA joint survey was published in 2021.
- FICC-related products include money market funds, bond funds, debt securities, currency-linked and commodity-linked structured products, currency swaps, etc. Currency-linked instruments, interest rate-linked instruments, and currency and interest rate-linked instruments issued by authorized financial institutions and sold by RIs were excluded from the survey.
- Transaction amount refers to the amount paid or payable by investors for investment products. For structured products and derivative products, the transaction amount refers to the maximum exposure of the contracts at the point of sale. Respondent firms were requested to report only one side of the transaction. Rollovers, redemptions and position close-outs were not included.
- The numbers of clients who completed at least one transaction in non-exchange-traded investment products during the reporting period were 774,988 for LCs and 834,916 for RIs, respectively.
- Large firms refer to LCs and RIs with total transactions of $1 billion or more and $30 billion or more respectively during the reporting period. They were requested to provide details about the investment products sold, including the transaction amount by investor type and the details of the top five products ranked by transaction amount.
