Greater Bay Area’s Wealth Management Connect scheme to expand eligibility, product range, investment limits
- New measures will further ‘cross-boundary investment … and the development of Hong Kong’s financial industry’, says monetary authority CEO
- Expansion of eligible southbound and northbound products aims to better meet GBA residents’ demands for diversified investments, HKMA says
“We welcome the introduction of the enhancement initiatives and are developing implementation details to put the initiatives into action at full speed,” said Eddie Yue, the CEO of the HKMA.
The new measures will “further facilitate cross-boundary investment of Greater Bay Area residents and the development of Hong Kong’s financial industry”, he added.
The expansion of eligible southbound and northbound products aims to better meet GBA residents’ demands for diversified investments, the HKMA said. The scheme will also get further promotion to acquaint GBA residents with its participating financial institutions and their services.
The scheme, launched in 2021, is Beijing’s first tailor-made plan for the 11 cities of the GBA development zone.
It allows 24 banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong), to sell Hong Kong investment products to the residents of the zone’s mainland cities through 31 banking partners.
Hong Kong and Macau regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the Monetary Authority of Macau, worked with mainland Chinese authorities to bring forward the new measures.
Financial regulators in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau will continue to revise and refine the relevant implementation details, the HKMA said in its announcement.
As of the end of April, the scheme had attracted about 50,000 investors, who invested 3.4 billion yuan (US$139.45 million), according to government data.
“The new enhancements will allow eligible brokers to participate in the pilot scheme for the first time, provide more mainland investors with a wider choice of fund products and further strengthen the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area markets,” said Julia Leung Fung-yee, the SFC’s CEO.
“We look forward to working closely with the mainland regulators, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the industry in implementing these enhancements,” Leung added.