On October 23, Shenzhen-Hong Kong ETF Connect was officially opened. SZSE and the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) held the ceremony separately in strict accordance with the requirements on regular pandemic prevention and control. At the ceremony held by SZSE, Ai Xuefeng, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, Shen Bing, Director of the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs at China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), and Sha Yan, SZSE General Manager, attended and addressed the ceremony. Executive Director Choi Fung Yee of the Investment Products Division at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and HKEX Group CEO Li Xiaojia addressed the ceremony via video. Ai Xuefeng, Shen Bing, Sha Yan, Chairman Dai Wenhua of China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited (CSDC), Chairman Zhao Xuejun of Harvest Fund, and General Manager Wang Lixin of Yinhua Fund Management Co. Ltd. jointly rang the bell for trading of the first batch of Shenzhen-Hong Kong ETF Connect products. Nearly 100 leaders and guests from relevant departments of CSRC, CSRC Shenzhen Branch, Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, CSDC, Asset Management Association of China and financial institutions and news media in Shenzhen and Hong Kong attended the opening ceremony and witnessed another important moment of interconnection between the Shenzhen capital market and the Hong Kong capital market.
Shenzhen-Hong Kong ETF Connect is an important measure of the two capital markets to conscientiously carry out major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation, actively promote high-level two-way opening-up and better serve the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Shenzhen demonstration area for socialism with Chinese characteristics. Among the first batch of Shenzhen-Hong Kong ETF Connect products, Harvest Hang Seng China Corporate ETF and Yinhua ICBC CSOP S&P China New Economic Industry ETF were listed on SZSE, and Hang Seng Harvest CSI 300 ETF and CSOP Yinhua CS 5G Communications Theme ETF were listed on the HKEX.
Since November 2019, according to the unified arrangements of CSRC, with the great support of the SFC, SZSE has intensified communication and cooperation with the HKEX, followed market-oriented principles, organized a number of seminars, formulated the ETF Connect plan, and signed relevant memorandum of cooperation. Asset management institutions in the two cities have selected subject products of cooperation through full consultation and communication. The Connect will further facilitate long-term, deep cooperation between the exchanges and asset management institutions in the two cities, refine the interconnection mechanism, expand innovation and interconnection channels, enhance the integration of financial markets in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and provide more diversified cross-border investment choices for investors in the two cities.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the 30th anniversary of the founding of the capital market. SZSE will earnestly implement the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and practice the principles of “building systems, no intervention and zero tolerance”. SZSE will resolutely take on the responsibility as a trailblazer in the capital market, and advance in depth the major task of deepening the reform of the capital market on all sides and the list of first batch of authorized items for the pilot demonstration area. SZSE will continue to diversify the financial derivative product system, and improve the types of cross-border investment and financing products. SZSE will learn from best international practices to promote the establishment of a system of rules and regulations that is in line with international standards, deepen cooperation and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through connection of rules, and promote reform and opening up from a higher starting point to a higher level with a higher goal. SZSE will go all out to build itself into a quality innovation capital center and world-class exchange, and make contributions to building the Greater Bay Area into a world-class bay area and Shenzhen into a model city of a modern socialist country.
