Hong Kong on Thursday signed a new supplement to the Cepa trade pact with the mainland, giving further preferential access for the city’s service sectors across the border.
The 10th supplement to the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement includes 73 new measures covering banking, securities, legal, film, testing and certification sectors.
The pact was first signed in October 2003 when Hong Kong was struggling to recover from an economic downturn following the Sars epidemic that year. It has been expanded since then.
The latest supplement takes the total number of measures signed under the agreement to 403. It will come into effect in January next year.
The new measures relating to securities allow Hong Kong-funded financial institutions to apply for qualified foreign investor status that will allow them to set up joint venture fund management companies in mainland China. Hong Kong-funded institutions will be allowed to hold more than 50 per cent of shares in these joint ventures.
Hong Kong-funded financial institutions can also set up one fully licensed joint venture securities company each in Shanghai, Guangdong and Shenzhen with a maximum aggregate shareholding of 51 per cent.