ETF Connect may not roll out this year

Following the debut of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2016, financial regulators across the border are exploring whether the mutual market access can be extended to ETFs, the head of the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd said on Monday, as the operator of the Hong Kong equity bourse reported net profit of HK$ 5.8 billion ($740 million) in 2016, down 27 percent from 2015.

The proposed Exchange-Traded Fund would be the next big thing on the agenda of Asia's biggest exchange operator by market capitalization.

But due to the difference between trading systems, the much-anticipated ETF Connect may not be rolled out within this year, HKEX Chief Executive Charles Li Xiaojia told a news conference. Li added that the Bond Connect was currently under discussion.