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Bond Connect Company Limited (BCCL) today marked the second anniversary of Bond Connect by hosting a summit at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s (HKEX) Connect Hall. The mutual market access programme has seen strong participation momentum and is gearing up for further enhancements.
Kicking off the Bond Connect Anniversary Summit 2019 was China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) Executive Vice President and BCCL Chairman Zhang Cuiwei, who gave a warm welcome to guests. HKEX Chairman Laura M Cha delivered the opening address. Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury James Lau, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Deputy Inspector of Financial Market Department Gao Fei, and Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Executive Director of External Vincent Lee were keynote speakers.
The PBOC’s Gao Fei said: “The PBOC will continue to promote the mutual connectivity of financial infrastructures, reshape repo mechanisms, and push forward the inclusion of Chinese bonds into the global flagship indexes.”
He announced a series of new measures to support the development of the Bond Connect scheme, namely:
- Add 13 Bond Connect market makers to a total of 47;
- Enrich transaction mechanisms;
- Support the fungibility of Bond Connect, CIBM Direct, QFII/RQFII;
- Establish default bond transaction mechanism;
- Increase FX hedging options; and
- Seek to resolve close-out netting related problems.
In addition, CFETS launched new indicative pricing and instant messaging features under Bond Connect along with Tradeweb. The new features, available on Tradeweb, enable global investors to access onshore indicative pricing information and contact dealers via iDeal, the standard instant messaging tool of the onshore interbank bond market.
Themed "Enhancing Mutual Market Access, Creating New Opportunities", the Summit attracted over 600 guests.
CFETS President Zhang Yi led a panel discussion, with speakers including State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China Capital Account Management Department Deputy Director General Zha Xiaoyang; PBOC Shanghai Head Office Financial Market Management Department Deputy Director General Rong Yihua; PBOC Shenzhen Branch President and State Administration of Foreign Exchange Shenzhen Branch Administrator Xing Yujing; Shanghai Clearing House Chairman Xie Zhong; China International Payment Service Corporation General Manager Xu Zaiyue; and HKMA Financial Infrastructure Department Head (Payment Systems Operation Division) Stanley Chan.
The panel had a constructive and lively discussion on the recent progress in the opening-up of China's financial markets, as well as further enhancements in onboarding foreign institutions to the market, product scope in the Bond Connect scheme, and new opportunities created by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, among other topics.
The Summit also assembled representatives from Bloomberg, FTSE Russell, and J.P.Morgan, the world’s top three fixed-income index providers, as well as global leading asset managers, including Vanguard, Invesco, and First State Investments, to speak on the panels. On Thursday, BCCL plans a series of in-depth workshops to share insights ranging from macro analysis to product developments. Stay tuned for further updates from Bond Connect.
