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Wealth Management Connect: China’s US$46.5 billion cross-border channel gives Hong Kong a leg up in the Greater Bay Area

  • Four of the top 10 richest people in China live in the Greater Bay Area, according to Forbes
  • Individuals can only invest up to 1 million yuan in investment products under the new cross-border scheme

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (centre) speaks at the launch ceremony of the Wealth Management Connect on Friday. Photo: Handout

China’s regulators will expand the cross-border investment channel with Hong Kong and Macau to encompass wealth management products, in a long-awaited move that will enhance Hong Kong’s standing as the offshore financial centre of the world’s second-largest capital market.

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The Wealth Management Connect has formally kicked off between Hong Kong, Macau, and the nine provincial cities in Guangdong known collectively as the Greater Bay Area (GBA), according to a statement by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

The programme lets mainland Chinese investors domiciled in the GBA invest in approved wealth management products in Hong Kong and Macau, and allows foreign investors to tap financial products sold in China via the two cities.

“Wealth Management Connect is a milestone in the financial development of the Greater Bay Area and an important measure that deepens and widens mutual access between the financial markets of the mainland and Hong Kong,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a statement after hosting an online launch ceremony on Friday.
Edmond Lau (centre), deputy chief executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority and other officials at a press conference on Friday to announce the launch of the Wealth Management Connect. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Edmond Lau (centre), deputy chief executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority and other officials at a press conference on Friday to announce the launch of the Wealth Management Connect. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
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An initial quota of 300 billion yuan (US$46.47 billion), half going in each direction, has been set by the HKMA in October 2020. About 300 investment funds in Hong Kong are qualified to offer their financial products to Guangdong, where investors are entitled to invest up to 1 million yuan each.
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