Investors may soon be able to invest in RMB-denominated ‘financial products’ on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which could also be a boon for the big global ETF providers.According to Julia Leung, Hong Kong’s undersecretary of financial services and the treasury, Hong Kong will list the yuan-denominated financial products, although she did not suggest a timetable, in a speech this week.
The yuan is the official unit of the Renminbi (RMB). International investors often have difficulty in getting set in yuan-denominated investments because of the foreign investment quota system for China ‘A’ shares. The China ‘A’ share market is much larger than the Hong Kong market but with very different characteristics.
Leung was quoted as saying: “The products will be the first of their kind in the world.”
However, a spokesperson for Hong Kong Stock Exchange & Clearing, Lorraine Chan, was quoted as saying that it was hopeful that yuan products would eventually be listed, but there was not timetable for it.
ETFs (exchange traded funds) represent one of the fastest growing financial products in the world. The main producers of these index-style listed products are BlackRock, State Street and Invesco.
