Bond Connect opens, giving investors a window to mainland

The Chinese mainland's Bond Connect arrangement with Hong Kong - a long-awaited program that gives overseas investors direct access to the mainland's $10 trillion debt market - opened on Monday.

The cross-border bond trading link will operate alongside the two existing Stock Connect systems between stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen and their Hong Kong counterparts; but it will allow only international and Hong Kong investors to trade onshore bonds in the initial phase.

Newly inaugurated Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said at the launch ceremony in Hong Kong that Bond Connect "marks another new chapter of mutual market access between the mainland and Hong Kong".