Securities and Futures Commission chief executive Martin Wheatley expects Hong Kong's first yuan investment products to be launched this year, moving the city a step closer to its goal of becoming an international offshore yuan trading centre.
Wheatley declined to confirm whether the SFC had already received a yuan investment product application.
'The SFC will look at any applications when they come to us. The SFC always takes a flexible approach to approve any new products. For the yuan products, the key issue is investor protection,' Wheatley told brokers and fund managers at a Hong Kong Securities Institute function yesterday.
Fund companies and brokers are considering launching mainland currency products after Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Norman Chan Tak-lam said a few weeks ago that the People's Bank of China would lift some restrictions on yuan transfers this month.
The proposed relaxation will allow investors to transfer yuan funds to brokers and fund houses, a move that will enable companies to make initial public offerings in yuan, while fund houses can sell yuan funds and brokers can trade yuan shares or yuan bonds for investors.
Demands for clearer guidance were rebuffed by Wheatley. 'We will not issue advance guideline on any new product launch. People know the CIS [collective investment scheme] code already. It is up to the fund houses themselves to decide how to structure the new product launch,' he said.
Oscar Wong Sai-hung, chief executive of ICBC (Asia) Investment Management, said his company was interested in launching new funds by restructuring its existing Hong Kong-authorised funds to be denominated in yuan if possible.
