“The New Silk Road: Expanding Horizons” global roadshow brings together market participants, regulators and other stakeholders interested in Chinese markets.
More than 150 investors and market participants attended Bloomberg’s “The New Silk Road: Expanding Horizons” roadshow in London last week to discuss the latest developments in the opening-up of China’s financial markets, as well as the most recent investment trends in China. Zheng Zeguang, China’s Ambassador to the UK, delivered a keynote speech.
Mr Zheng’s remarks reflected on the role of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in driving cross-border investment. “Over the past decade, the BRI has made major progress on policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity,” Ambassador Zheng said in his speech. “China is taking concrete actions to open up in more areas and at greater depths. We will further expand high-level opening up in the financial sector. We will streamline the cross-border financing system and increase the liquidity of RMB assets in support of Belt and Road cooperation.”
Constantin Cotzias, European Director of Bloomberg said, “Although investors face a range of new headwinds in global markets, the financial sector can play a leading role in promoting divergent economies to seek mutually beneficial cooperation. The continued development of market access into China for foreign investors is testament to that. Bloomberg will continue to play its part in supporting greater global cooperation in the financial sector.”
China’s fixed income market was a topic of particular focus at the seminar, being discussed in two separate panels. Speakers from China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), Credit Agricole, Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Construction Bank, Guotai Junan Securities, Huatai Securities, Invesco, Standard Chartered Bank and Bloomberg discussed a range of topics around investing in China’s bond market, including the attractiveness of RMB assets, foreign participation in China’s onshore bond market and its outlook, development of China’s green bond markets, current market challenges and the longer-term opportunities available for investors.
Panelists noted that with the increasing prevalence of the RMB’s internationalization, China’s bond market has become an important market with increasing relevance to global investors. The channels to enter China’s interbank bond market continue to be optimized, and the launch of Swap Connect will further facilitate investors’ investment in China’s onshore bond market.
In another session, Yang Yiping, Associate Director of International Cooperation Department at Shanghai Futures Exchange and Shanghai International Energy Exchange, presented the most recent developments in Chinese commodities markets and discussed new measures to facilitate commodities trading within China by offshore investors.
London was a fitting location for this stage of the roadshow, with the city being one of the largest offshore RMB trading markets in the world. The seminar was the second stop of the “The New Silk Road: Expanding Horizons” roadshow, following Hong Kong. The series will continue in other international financial centers, offering a unique lens for global investors to better understand the current nuances of China’s markets and connecting Chinese financial institutions with the global investor community.
Bloomberg provides a range of powerful trading and trade-related solutions around the world. It also offers a full suite of solutions for China’s bond markets and cross-border investment. For more information, please visit RMB<GO> in the Bloomberg Terminal.