Countdown begins for Shanghai-London stock connect

The launch ceremony of the Shanghai-London stock connect is scheduled to be held in London on Friday, when a list of related Chinese and UK enterprises will be announced, Chinese financial news outlet Yicai reported.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a statement on Tuesday evening it has approved the register of China International Capital Corporation (UK) Limited to become a global depositary receipt UK cross-border switch institution under the Shanghai-London stock connect program.

Earlier, Huatai Securities, China's third-largest brokerage by market value, said the company intends to issue 82.5 million global depositary receipts in London, and has obtained approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Meanwhile, domestic securities brokers have begun related training and brokerage tests, the newspaper added.

The new stock connect program, which was jointly advanced by the governments of China and the UK in 2015, will allow London-listed companies to issue Chinese Depository Receipts in China, while Shanghai-listed companies will be able to issue Global Depositary Receipts on the London bourse.

China's financial market has accelerated its internationalization starting this year. In June, global equities index compiler MSCI announced the inclusion of China's A-shares on its benchmark Emerging Markets Index.

Later, MSCI said in a statement released in September it had proposed increasing the A-share market's large-cap securities from the current 5 percent to 20 percent.

Also in September, the London-based index business FTSE Russell announced its decision to add the Chinese mainland's yuan-denominated A-shares into its global equity benchmarks in phases, starting in June 2019.

China's capital market, whose valuation is currently at a low level, has long-term investment value, Wang Xinjie, investment strategy director of Wealth Management Department at Standard Chartered China, told the newspaper.

With the inclusion of China's A-shares into key global benchmark indices, it will become a significant market global fund managers should not neglect, Wang said, adding foreign capital will account for nearly 10 percent of China's A-share market capitalization over the next 10 years.