Wealth Management Connect: Hong Kong banks prepare to launch investment products under cross-border link

Banks in Hong Kong are gearing up to submit applications to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to launch financial products under the US$46.5 billion cross-border Wealth Management Connect scheme.

HSBC, the largest bank in the city, said it will make its move as early as this week as it strives to be among the first batch of financial institutions in Hong Kong to blaze the trail, after the wealth channel between mainland China and Hong Kong and Macau was formally launched on Friday.

The HKMA started accepting applications on Friday, while mainland regulators will begin accepting applications next month.

The HKMA is likely to approve the first products in around a month, which means the earliest the products can be launched is in October, Daniel Chan, head of Greater Bay Area at HSBC, told a media briefing on Sunday.

Hong Kong banks are expected to be very active in launching products, as they seek monetise the city’s access to 70 million people in the Greater Bay Area, 10 times the size of Hong Kong. An initial quota of 300 billion yuan (US$46.5 billion), half going in each direction, has been set by the HKMA. About 300 investment funds in Hong Kong are qualified to offer their financial products to nine cities in Guangdong province and Macau, where investors are entitled to invest up to 1 million yuan each.