Non-financial firms allowed to trade in interbank bonds

China is opening its 26.31 trillion yuan ($4.3 trillion) interbank bond market to non-financial firms after tightening trading rules following a crackdown on illegal transactions.

Qualifying participants will require minimum net assets of 30 million yuan and use a separate trading platform to banks, brokerages and insurers, according to an Oct 17 statement posted on Monday on the website of the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

The amount of bonds outstanding in China doubled in the past five years to 28.27 trillion yuan, of which 93 percent was accounted for by the interbank market, data from ChinaBond.com.cn show.