Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities plan GBA Wealth Management Connect scheme overhaul, allowing Chinese investors access to global equities
- GBA authorities finalising details of expanded Wealth Management Connect scheme, allowing mainland investors to buy global equity products
- The spillover impact of the banking crisis in the United States and Europe on Hong Kong and broader Asia is ‘minimal’
Plans are being finalised for upgrading the Wealth Management Connect scheme to include benefits like allowing residents of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to buy global equity products, said Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Tuesday.
Authorities in the bay area are discussing these changes to widen the product suite, increase quotas for individual investors and simplify the selling process, he said at the Bloomberg Wealth Asia Summit in Hong Kong. Investors in the bay area are currently allowed to buy only bond funds.
Yue also commented on the risk of spillover from the banking crisis in the US, saying Hong Kong is not seeing any impact.
“We will soon be introducing Wealth Management Connect 2.0 … We’re finalising our discussions with the mainland authorities,” Yue said. “I hope it can come soon, because it is the right time to put it out when we have started to open our borders, when flows will come this way [to Hong Kong].”
The long-waited expansion, which also aims to enhance financial connectivity between the cities in the bay area, raises hopes among financial institutions looking to tap mainland investors for funds as the world’s second largest economy reopens in the post-Covid era.
