File photo shows an exterior view of the People's Bank of China in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)
BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- A number of foreign-funded banks in China have welcomed the Swap Connect between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), an interest rate swap market access scheme officially launched on Monday.
At the close of trading on the first day, 27 international traders completed interest rate swap contracts worth 8.259 billion yuan (about 1.19 billion U.S. dollars) in the "northbound trade" of the scheme, data from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System shows.
A total of 20 institutions were included in the list of first batch market makers for the Swap Connect, among which six institutions are foreign-funded banks.
As one of the six foreign-funded market maker, Deutsche Bank noticed active trading via the program on the day of its launch. "Overseas investors attached much importance to Swap Connect and actively participated in it," said Xu Zhaoting, head of RMB trading, Global Emerging Market at Deutsche Bank, highlighting overseas investors' welcome and recognition of the new program.
HSBC has already helped its clients, such as Dymon Asia, to access to the Chinese mainland interbank interest swap market and finished deals on the first trading day of the program.
Many branches of Standard Chartered Bank traded on the launching day of the Swap Connect. According to Yang Jing, vice President of Standard Chartered Bank China, RMB assets represent an important part of global investors' investment portfolio, said Yang, adding that the launch of Swap Connect provides global investors with a more effective tool to hedge the interest risk, pumping up their confidence in investing Chinese bond market.
(Edited by Li Shimeng with Xinhua Silk Road, lishimeng@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
