LONDON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- FTSE Russell, a global multi-asset index provider, confirmed on Monday that Chinese government bonds to be included in the FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI) at the end of October.
"FTSE Russell is pleased to confirm that Chinese Government Bonds will be included in the WGBI and its derived indexes beginning at the end of October 2021," said FTSE Russell in a statement.
China's WGBI inclusion will occur over a period of 36 months to ensure an orderly transition for markets and investors, said FTSE Russell.
"This confirmation is based on affirmation with members of the FTSE Russell advisory committees and other index users that ongoing reforms to the Chinese government bond market warrant inclusion in the WGBI," read the statement.
Waqas Samad, chief executive officer of FTSE Russell, said that "the decision to add the second largest bond market in the world to our flagship global government bond index reflects our robust index governance process and regular engagement with global investors, regulators and other key market participants."
"We congratulate the Chinese market authorities on reaching this important milestone," Samad added.
Chris Woods, head of policy and governance at FTSE Russell, said "we commend China on the great progress it has made in market reforms and look forward to the phased addition of Chinese Government Bonds to the WGBI."
Earlier this month, FTSE Russell added China A Shares to the FTSE MPF Index Series, the core equity benchmarks used by the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) industry, at the March semi-annual index review for the first time.
FTSE Russell is a wholly owned subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and a unit of the information services division. Enditem
A single purchase
