"Hong Kong is like a tropical plant," one banker told the financial times 30 years ago with a thoughtful look.

"If you ask too much," he explains, "it wither and die."

Financial circles in Hong Kong have always been fond of using patterns of rhetoric - as they like to warn that overly serious regulators threaten Hong Kong's financial strength.

That strength is still based on the Hong Kong stock market, however hard it tries to diversify.

One problem that plagued "horticulturists" in 1987 was a dual class equity issue.

At the time, regulators were making bold attempts to use a loophole to launch a dual-class stake, such as Jardine Matheson and tycoon Li ka-shing.

It was then that officials stuck to their principles in front of the corporate giants, blocking the attempt.

In 2013, they did so again, when Alibaba chose not to list in Hong Kong because the tech giant's governance did not fit the strong rules of a single vote in Hong Kong.

Green shoots are back, and a new proposal for a dual-class share is afoot.

It is expected to pass in some form in Hong Kong this time and may take root in other markets: London and Singapore are also debating the topic;

New York has allowed a dual-class share structure.

In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong stock exchange in June of the consultation document issued raised the issue, the file is considering whether to create a new board, to reach the requirements of the motherboard listed companies, namely, loss of start-ups, a secondary listing of mainland Chinese companies as well as the "company" with a nonstandard management architecture.

The new board will provide investors with diversity and "meet the needs of wider issuers," the report said.