James Fok is a financial and strategic advisor to corporations and governments. He served as a senior executive at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) from 2012 until 2021, during a period of rapid internationalisation in China's capital markets. While there, he played a major role in a number of landmark financial markets initiatives, including the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme (2014), Bond Connect (2017) and the Hong Kong market's Listing Reforms (2018). In his earlier career, Fok worked as an investment banker in both Europe and Asia, specialising in the financial services sector.
Fok has written and spoken extensively about market structure issues and the intersection between geopolitics and international finance. He currently serves as an Advisor to Bain & Company (2021- ) and on the Advisory Board of Hex Trust (2021- ), a provider of bank-grade custody for digital assets. He is also an International Member of Ireland for Finance's Industry Advisory Committee (2021-) and an Independent Non-Executive Director of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE: ASC) (2023- ). Previously, he has served on the Executive Board of the International Securities Services Association (2018-21) and the Financial Services Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council (2014-21).
Fok holds a BA (Hons) from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He lives in Hong Kong with his wife and two sons.
