Bond Connect Anniversary Summit 2022 & Swap Connect Launch was held today (Monday) to mark the fifth anniversary of the landmark Bond Connect programme and celebrate the announcement of Swap Connect, a new mutual market access programme that will provide trading and clearing services for overseas investors accessing Mainland China’s interest rate swap market.

John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); Pan Gongsheng, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange; Wang Linggui, Deputy Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council; Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA); and Julia Leung, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC), delivered keynote addresses at the summit. 

Mr Pan said: “Bond Connect has been operating in a stable and efficient manner over the past five years, since it was launched in 2017 upon the 20th anniversary of HKSAR.  As a significant milestone of Mainland’s financial market reform, Bond Connect continued to help drive the Mainland financial market’s opening up and reinforce Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre.”

 

Mr. Pan announced two new measures to promote the further opening up of China’s financial markets:

• Swap Connect, an arrangement that will enable investors to participate in the financial derivatives markets in the Mainland and Hong Kong through a connection between infrastructure institutions in both markets, supporting investors’ interest rate risk management needs; and
• Enhanced Currency Swap Agreement between PBOC and HKMA, which will become a long-standing arrangement with no need to be renewed. The size of the standing arrangement is increased from RMB500 billion to RMB800 billion, and streamlines the operation to improve efficiency.

 

Representatives from regulators, banks, asset managers, securities companies, rating agencies and other institutions shared insights on the opening-up of China’s bond market, prospects of RMB investments and efficient cross-border bond investment and financing channels.

Since its launch in July 2017, Bond Connect has played a pivotal role in connecting China’s financial markets with the world, becoming the primary channel for international investors to access China’s interbank bond market.

Over the past five years, Bond Connect has been providing efficient and reliable services for global investors to access Mainland China’s bond market. It has facilitated the inclusion of Chinese bonds into Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index, JPMorgan Government Bond Index Emerging Markets Indexes and FTSE World Government Bond Index.

BCCL would like to thank all market participants for their ongoing support of the Bond Connect programme, and it looks forward to working closely with them to promote the further development of China's financial markets.