03.07.201700:25:00UTC+00Banks Clamber to Trade on China-HK Bond Connect

Banks are scrambling to facilitate trades on a new bond trading connection between China and Hong Kong.

Launched Monday, Bond Connect enables foreign fund managers to get into China's $9 interbank bond market worth $9 trillion without creating onshore accounts.

Numerous financial institutions including BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC, and Standard Chartered have processed trades in their role as dealers in the first hours of the bond connect's operations.

HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam hailed this milestone, saying it opens another chapter of mutual market access between the city and China.

For a long time, China has been slowly opening its financial markets to foreign investors. Mainland stocks earlier scored inclusion in a global stock index for the first time last month.