Company details

Hong Kong

HEADCOUNT

1000-2999

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Finance

WEBSITE

https://www.hkex.com.hk/

About the company

HKEX is the exchange group behind Hong Kong’s securities and derivatives markets, and the company also owns the London Metal Exchange. HKEX runs trading, clearing, settlement, and listing-related infrastructure that connects issuers and investors across Hong Kong, Mainland China, and global capital markets. The company’s work spans market operations, regulation and oversight functions, technology platforms, and data services. HKEX also operates a charitable arm through the HKEX Foundation.

Locations and presence

HKEX states that the main Hong Kong offices are in Central and Tseung Kwan O, and HKEX also references offices in locations including London, Singapore, and Mainland China. HKEX publishes standard office hours and also describes flexible office-hour arrangements that depend on job requirements and management approval, so early-career roles are best assumed to be primarily office-based.

Palpable Score

74.0

/ 100

HKEX offers clear early-career routes through a 10-week summer internship and three named Graduate Associate programmes built around 24-month rotations. HKEX also spells out what the programmes include (training, networking, and cross-division exposure) and backs that with wider employee policies on development and benefits. The biggest limit is transparency on pay and outcomes, because HKEX rarely publishes salary ranges for early-career roles and does not publish conversion, retention, or promotion metrics for early-career cohorts.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

17.0

/ 20

The company runs three Graduate Associate programmes (Business Advancement, Regulatory Excellence, and Technology Enablement) built around a 24-month rotation across multiple divisions.
HKEX offers a 10-week Summer Internship programme running June to August, with internship placements available across functions like Markets, Listing, Operations, Finance, Risk, Compliance, Internal Audit, HR, and IT.
The company explicitly links the internship to a possible return offer and conversion to the Graduate Associate programme, which gives interns a visible route into full-time early-career hiring.

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Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

13.8

/ 20

The company’s published employee policies commit to equal opportunity hiring and set expectations that recruitment is handled through Human Resources, which helps reduce ad hoc hiring behaviour.
HKEX candidate reports for graduate-track hiring commonly reference a structured sequence that includes online testing, an HR interview, and an assessment-centre format with group and individual exercises.
The company does not publish a single, official “stages and timelines” guide for early-career applicants (for example, how many interviews to expect and typical turnaround times), so candidates rely on role-by-role signals and third-party reports.

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Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.5

/ 20

The company positions the Graduate Associate programmes as structured learning plus hands-on work, with explicit themes like training and skills development, resilience-building, and cross-functional exposure through rotation design.
HKEX highlights cohort-style network building in the graduate programmes, including peer “batch-mates” and organised networking activities as part of the programme experience.
The company publishes wider support infrastructure that early-career hires can benefit from, including an Employee Assistance Programme (24-hour hotline and counselling options) and flexible office hours where job requirements allow.

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Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

13.5

/ 20

The company does not publish pay ranges on the official Early Careers programme page for Graduate Associates or Summer Interns, which makes it harder for candidates to judge pay fairness before applying.
HKEX publishes material benefits that support stability for permanent employees in Hong Kong, including retirement scheme arrangements (ORSO or MPF options) and insurance coverage such as medical and life insurance.
The company’s public documents talk about market-competitive pay and internal equity principles, but early-career pay transparency still depends heavily on external estimates and job-board reposts rather than HKEX-controlled disclosures.

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Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.2

/ 20

The company connects the Summer Internship to a defined next step by stating that successful interns may receive a return offer and convert into the Graduate Associate programme.
HKEX has mixed employee review aggregates on progression, with “career opportunities” landing around the middle of the scale rather than standing out as a consistent fast-promotion environment.
The company does not publish cohort outcomes such as internship conversion rates, Graduate Associate placement rates after the 24-month rotations, or early-career retention figures, which limits confidence about typical long-term results.

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