BOC Hong Kong (02388)Total trading volume of the "Southbound Connect" Fund in 2023 increased tenfold compared to the previous year.

On February 26, the optimized measures of "Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass 2.0" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area officially took effect. Zhou Guochang, Deputy General Manager of Personal Digital Financial Products Department of BOC Hong Kong (02388), stated that the Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass has been continuously optimized in terms of investor access threshold, individual investor quota, qualified investment product range, etc., bringing growth opportunities to banks and wealth management industry. In 2023, the total transaction amount of BOC Hong Kong's "Southbound Pass" fund increased by 10 times year-on-year. Among the fund assets held by customers, nearly seven-tenths are stock and bond mixed funds, mainly invested in the global region, showing increasing attention to diversified asset allocation. Zhou Guochang continued to point out that the integration of the Greater Bay Area has driven the interest of Hong Kong residents in purchasing property in the north. BOC Hong Kong has implemented convenient payment measures for purchasing property in the Greater Bay Area for Hong Kong and Macao residents, continuously optimizing the "Easy Property Purchase" payment and financing schemes in the Greater Bay Area, introducing direct payment services to facilitate Hong Kong residents in purchasing first-hand or second-hand properties in the Greater Bay Area cities by directly remitting RMB or other foreign currencies from Hong Kong to mainland banks to pay property down payment and final payment. At the same time, BOC Hong Kong's "Easy Property Purchase" financing scheme in the Greater Bay Area covers 9 mainland Chinese cities, providing mortgage loans, property-secured loans, and personal loans. It is reported that in order to cooperate with the implementation of policy measures to deepen financial cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland, BOC Hong Kong has launched a series of cross-border financial services, covering "Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass 2.0" and the optimization scheme for property purchase in the Greater Bay Area, to meet the investment and property purchase needs of residents in the Greater Bay Area. Liu Sali, Deputy General Manager of Personal Wealth and Management Department of BOC Hong Kong, stated that since the launch of the Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass, BOC Hong Kong's capital remittances in 2023 increased by nearly 3.5 times year-on-year. BOC Hong Kong will continue to work with Bank of China in the mainland to provide "BOC Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass 2.0" services, believing that "Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass 2.0" will attract more customers and funds to enter the market and promote connectivity in the financial markets of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. BOC Hong Kong stated that with the comprehensive optimization and upgrade of the Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass, the number of "Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass" products has increased by over 60% to nearly 300. BOC Hong Kong has significantly enhanced its sales and service support, setting up 9 cross-border wealth management service centers at several key ports and iconic locations, with a specialized cross-border team providing account opening, online, and telephone customer manager services. In addition, there are over 1000 branches in Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Shenzhen supporting cross-border wealth management pass services, facilitating investors' participation.