THE launch of a program that will connect the stock markets in Hong Kong and Shenzhen is awaiting approval from the State Council, China’s Cabinet, according to a senior official at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

    Global investors have been waiting for regulators to announce a launch date since May for the Hong Kong-Shenzhen trading link, which will complement a program connecting Hong Kong with Shanghai, but the project has been dogged by technical problems.

    “We are still waiting for the final approval of the State Council and the joint declaration and announcement by the two regulatory bodies on the mainland and Hong Kong,” Liu Fuzhong, vice-director of strategy and international relations at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, told a conference yesterday.

    If the proposed Shenzhen link is launched this year, it will round off a trio of impressive initiatives to connect the Hong Kong and the mainland markets undertaken since last year.

    The Hong Kong-Shanghai “stock connect” program was launched in November last year and a landmark mutual fund recognition program will be unveiled July 1.

    For international investors, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange represents a portal to the new Chinese economy with its main board, the SME board for small and medium-sized enterprises and a startup board, ChiNext

    Liu said the Shenzhen bourse was “technically ready” and that the stock connect would follow the same model as the existing Hong Kong-Shanghai link in order to cut costs. (SD-Agencies)