Suning Clearing and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited sign a cooperation memorandum of understanding. Yu Weiwen: This is a significant milestone for Suning Clearing to become another important cornerstone of Asia's ICSD.

On March 4, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Eddie Yue, wrote in a publication that Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX have signed a cooperation memorandum to deepen their collaboration in optimizing the post-trade securities infrastructure of Hong Kong's capital market. This is a significant step for the Central Money Market (CMU) to become another important cornerstone towards becoming an Asian International Central Securities Depository (ICSD). Eddie Yue stated that currently, Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX operate platforms for fixed income products (such as bonds) and stock custody businesses in Hong Kong, respectively. The strategic cooperation between these two platforms will pave the way for establishing a diversified asset custody platform in Hong Kong in the long term. Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX will explore how to optimize the post-trade securities infrastructure of Hong Kong's capital market to support the internationalization of the Renminbi, promote two-way investment, and enhance user experience. He noted that the future cooperation between Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX will leverage their respective strengths in different areas to accelerate the potential of using Mainland bonds as collateral, providing market participants with more flexible fund mobilization and risk management tools. This will facilitate the issuance and trading of offshore Renminbi bonds, further enhancing the attractiveness of Hong Kong's offshore Renminbi capital market. Eddie Yue mentioned that to meet the demand of Mainland investors for global asset allocation, CMU continues to expand its international network, exploring connectivity with more Central Securities Depositories (CSD) to facilitate Mainland investors in purchasing and holding overseas securities. In the future, based on the cooperation memorandum, Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX will work together to expand the asset categories and scope of Hong Kong CSD. Additionally, they will jointly engage in promotional activities to attract more investors and encourage more issuers to issue and hold bonds in Hong Kong, further consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong's position as a bond issuance center. He said that to further enhance user experience, Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX will explore establishing a universal interface to assist users in managing their fixed income and stock products more conveniently. In the long run, they will also study the feasibility of creating a diversified asset custody platform and explore the use of advanced technology to upgrade the platform to support net settlement across asset categories, thereby improving settlement efficiency. Eddie Yue stated that the cooperation memorandum between Swift Clearing Settlement and HKEX marks an important milestone in the development of the vision for an Asian ICSD. In the future, they will continue to leverage Hong Kong's role as a reliable bridge connecting the Mainland and international markets and utilize the unique advantages of "one country, two systems" to promote the continuous development and innovation of Hong Kong's financial market, further solidifying Hong Kong's position as an international financial center and a hub for offshore Renminbi business.