SHANGHAI: China on Monday widened access to its $10 trillion bond market, which analysts said will boost Beijing’s drive to internationalise the yuan and more deeply integrate its markets with the world financial system.
The new window for foreign investors was opened via Hong Kong, where “qualified investors” such as central banks, sovereign wealth funds and major financial institutions are now allowed to buy Chinese bonds—the world’s third-largest market after the United States and Japan.
Qualified investors include central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and other major financial institutions, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, who jointly announced the move on Sunday.
Trading got off to a tepid start, however, with analysts saying questions about the yuan’s stability and fears over mounting Chinese debt levels will keep foreign enthusiasm in check.
The 10-year government debt yield had risen only slightly by late afternoon to 3.5732 percent, or 0.0076 points, according to Bloomberg. Bond yields rise inversely to their prices.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority jointly announced the step on Sunday amid weekend celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Britain’s handover of Hong Kong to Beijing in 1997.
The PBoC said in a statement Monday that the new platform would “promote Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability, and provide a more convenient investment channel for overseas investors”.
“It will also steadily push forward the opening up of China’s financial market,” it said.
The link-up was launched in Hong Kong by the city’s new chief executive Carrie Lam, who hailed it as “another new chapter in the development of mutual capital markets access between the mainland and Hong Kong”.
Foreign investors already have ways to access Chinese bonds but currently hold less than 1.5 percent of anything issued in China, according to estimates by Bloomberg.
China has been working to assimilate more with global markets, which allows access to increased foreign investment at a time of slowing domestic economic growth and helps internationalise its currency, which can increase a country’s global monetary clout.
