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This paper examines how Hong Kong regulators deploy their enforcement powers in order to regulate the listing market. As a former British colony, Hong Kong follows the enforcement style of the UK with regard to fi nancial regulation, where alternative mechanisms are used to substitute heavy reliance on formal sanctions to procure compliance. Nevertheless, it is argued that the enforcement strategy of Hong Kong regulators is also shaped by the need to overcome cross-border enforcement problems concerning mainland Chinese companies which maintain a strong presence in the Hong Kong market. In response to difficulties in cross-border enforcement, Hong Kong regulators have resorted to a dynamic mix of different regulatory tools--formal sanctions and compliancepromoting measures, ex post enforcement actions and ex ante controls, direct deterrence and gatekeeper supervision--to try to achieve effective enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]