China to open exchange bond market to overseas institutional investors

Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2020 shows the street view of the Lujiazui area of Pudong, east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

China will allow foreign institutional investors to invest in bonds on its exchange market, as part of efforts to help increase capital inflows to the country and further open up the bond market, according to a notice released on May 27 by Chinese authorities.

The document, jointly rolled out by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will come into effect on June 30.

According to the notice, overseas institutional investors can invest in China's exchange bond market directly or through bond connect schemes, and neither of the two methods need to go through separate filing or approval procedures.

PBOC and CSRC encourage foreign institutional investors to invest in China's bond market as medium- and long-term investors.

As of the end of April, a total of 1,035 foreign institutional investors held 3.9 trillion yuan of debt instruments in China, surging 225 percent over the figure in the end of 2017.