SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese market regulators issued draft rules on Thursday for “connect” links between China’s interbank and exchange traded bond markets, the latest clarification in a multi-year push to unify segregated markets.
In addition to giving qualified institutions in each market access to securities in the other, China will allow qualified banks to trade exchange bonds through the connect system or directly open accounts to participate on the exchange market, according to a statement issued by the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, the National Interbank Funding Center and market depositories.
The statement was published on the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The introduction of draft rules follows the announcement of a connect link between the two markets by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) in July 2020.
The interbank bond market, formed in 1997 and supervised by the central bank, is dominated by banks and much larger than the exchange bond market in terms of issuance and trading volume.
The exchange bond market is regulated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and counts investors such as brokerages，investment funds and individuals as participants.
In 2018, the PBOC pushed to unify bond rating qualifications in the interbank and exchange bond markets, the first step toward breaking barriers between the two markets.
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
