Exclusive: Over 3,000 Hong Kong investors enter Korean market as city ranks second-largest net buyer

About 3,500 Hong Kong retail investors entered the Korean stock market since October last year through omnibus accounts offered by Hana Securities and its local partners, part of a buying wave that has made Hong Kong the second-largest foreign net buyer of Korean stocks in 2026.

They accounted for a growing share of foreign buying as U.S. and British investors, traditionally major players in the Korean market, were net sellers cumulatively from January through August. 

Hana Securities was the first to launch an omnibus account — a service that allows foreign investors to trade Korean stocks through their existing overseas brokers — in partnership with Hong Kong brokerages Emperor Securities in October last year and Futu Securities in July. It remains one of the few providers offering the service to Hong Kong investors, alongside Samsung Securities, which offers omnibus accounts through U.S.-based Interactive Brokers, which also operates in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong investors emerged as the second-largest foreign net buyers of Korean listed equities through August this year, behind only France, with net purchases totaling 6.45 trillion won ($4.83 billion), according to Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) estimates. Hong Kong climbed to second place from sixth in full-year net buying at the end of last year.

“Initially, transactions were concentrated among high-net-worth individuals with more than 7 billion won in assets, but the user base has gradually broadened to include more mainstream investors, significantly expanding the reach of the service to average Hong Kong retail investors," said Steve Kim, head of the foreign investment solution department at Hana Securities.

More than 90 percent of the investors’ holdings are concentrated in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, underscoring the buying was driven by the AI chip rally. But Hana Securities hopes to build on that momentum by steering investors toward other AI-linked sectors, including energy and construction.

Burgeoning appetite for Korean stocks

Korean stocks drew strong interest from Hong Kong investors last year amid a market rally that lifted the Kospi by 76 percent. The momentum continued this year, with the index surging another 110 percent through June before retreating 30 percent from its peak as of Monday.

Hong Kong investors’ holdings of Korean listed stocks jumped more than 90 percent to 44.89 trillion won at the end of August compared to the end of last year, according to the FSS.

Much of the initial interest was driven by SK hynix, whose shares surged a whopping 1,600 percent from the start of last year to their peak in June. CSOP Asset Management’s leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF), which aims to deliver twice the daily returns of SK hynix stock, accelerated the rally as it became Hong Kong's largest ETF by assets under management in June. 

“Finally, it arrived,” one Hong Kong investor wrote on Futubull, a trading platform and investor community operated by Futu Holdings, in July, after Hana Securities launched its omnibus service through Futu Securities. “Already placed my order — got a great entry this morning,” another investor wrote.

The surge in demand has fueled a wave of Korea-focused ETF launches in Hong Kong, including a fund tracking the Kospi 200 and the Kospi 200 Covered Call Active ETF.

Tapping Hong Kong’s wealth

Korean brokerages are stepping up efforts to tap Hong Kong’s growing appetite for Korean stocks, rolling out services targeting retail investors — a segment they had largely neglected for decades, even when they already had a presence in the city.

Mirae Asset Securities, which established its Hong Kong subsidiary in 2007, launched a new brokerage platform, MAPS, in Hong Kong in June in an effort to bolster outreach to local retail investors. The app allows users to trade Korean stocks.

“Mirae has traditionally focused on investment banking and corporate finance in Hong Kong, leaving retail investors largely untapped,” said a spokesperson for Mirae Asset Securities. “But we began preparing to enter the retail market late last year, as a rally led by semiconductors and AI coincided with a broader shift toward investing, with retail and pension money increasingly flowing into equities rather than sitting in savings."

Shinhan Securities is also preparing to launch an omnibus account service in Hong Kong through Beijing-based CICC's international arm. Shinhan Securities CEO Lee Sun-hoon visited Hong Kong for the partnership last month. 

Beyond the push to attract Hong Kong investors into Korean stocks, brokerages are also looking to establish a foothold there to tap its deep pool of wealth. Hong Kong became the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub for the first time last year, with cross-border assets totaling $2.95 trillion, edging out Switzerland at $2.94 trillion, according to Boston Consulting Group. Its cross-border assets are projected to reach $4.6 trillion by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 9 percent.

Meritz Securities, known for its strength in investment banking and dealmaking, chose Hong Kong for its first overseas operation. Its board approved the establishment of the Hong Kong entity on June 11, and the company has completed local registration and is awaiting regulatory approval from Hong Kong’s financial authorities. The Hong Kong office will focus on sourcing deals through local networks, handling smaller transactions independently and partnering with its Korean headquarters on larger investment banking deals.

“Hong Kong is a major Asian financial hub, home to a concentration of global financial institutions and institutional investors,” a Meritz Securities spokesperson said. “We plan to build a local network and identify overseas investment opportunities, potentially in collaboration with our Korean headquarters.”

Interest yet to broaden

While Hong Kong investors are increasingly buying Korean stocks, Korean brokerages face an uphill battle to turn the growing interest into sustained investment, especially as interest remains concentrated on chip giants.

Hong Kong investors still accounted for just 2 percent of foreign holdings in Korean-listed equities in August, though the share edged up from 1.7 percent at the end of last year, according to the FSS.

The Kospi’s recent weakness, with the index down 30 percent from its June peak, could further complicate efforts to attract overseas capital.

“While demand is growing, Korean stocks are only beginning to account for a small share of wealthy Hong Kong investors’ portfolios, which previously had little to no exposure to the Korean market,” said Kim of Hana Securities.

Despite the recent surge in interest, Hong Kong investors’ attention has remained largely focused on chipmakers, Kim said, driven more by the fact that leading chipmakers are Korean than by a broader interest in the Korean stock market.

“AI data center and power infrastructure stocks, as well as stocks tied to Korea's investment pledges in the United States, occasionally attract interest, but it is too early to say that this interest is clearly spreading to small- and mid-cap stocks or other sectors,” a Mirae Asset Securities spokesperson said, adding that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix account for more than 90 percent of Mirae's trading volume, though the figure does not reflect their share of total investment.

Industry insiders say sustained government efforts to restore market confidence are key to attracting foreign investors beyond Korea’s chip giants.

Foreign investors, including those from Hong Kong, have responded favorably to the government’s efforts to address the so-called Korea discount and improve shareholder value, particularly through the recent amendments to the Commercial Act, according to the representative.

“Investors are now watching whether the government will continue to implement effective measures to rebuild confidence in the market. Korea’s distinctive corporate structure, in which conglomerates operate through holding companies and subsidiaries, has also drawn interest from foreign institutional investors exploring pair-trading strategies,” the Mirae spokesperson added.

Some say the government needs to do more to promote Korean equities overseas. “Brokerages’ efforts to reach overseas investors and introduce them to the Korean market have their limits, as they often focus on wealthy clients of local brokerages. The government needs to do more to promote Korean equities to a broader international audience and highlight its efforts to address the Korea discount and enhance shareholder value,” Kim added.

BY JIN MIN-JI [[email protected]]