CHINA kicked off Friday its long-awaited wealth management connect (WMC) program, which links its southern province of Guangdong with Hong Kong and Macao.

The program allows individual residents in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to carry out cross-border investment in approved wealth management products distributed by banks in the GBA.

The cross-boundary program will initially bring combined fund flows of 300 billion yuan (US$46.53 billion) in the area, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said.

The implementation details are expected to take effect starting from Sept. 30 and WMC business will kick off at the beginning of October at the earliest.

The two-way program consists of the southbound program and northbound program. The southbound program refers to eligible residents of nine Guangdong cities investing in financial products distributed by banks in Hong Kong and Macao via designated channels, and vice versa as the northbound program.

Under the program, net cash flows quota in either direction are capped at 150 billion yuan. Individual investors can invest up to 1 million yuan.

The program will promote cross-border use of the yuan, strengthening Hong Kong’s role as the global hub for offshore yuan, said Eddie Yue, HKMA chief executive.

The program provides investors with convenient channels for cross-border investment, including online contract signing, attestation service for account opening and online risk evaluation.

In the aspect of risk evaluation, investors are required to open dedicated remittance account and dedicated investment account with banks in their place of residence and the other market respectively.

Regarding protection of investors’ interests, WMC reinforces cooperation of financial management departments on the mainland with their counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao, information sharing and establishment of complain handling mechanism.

From Oct. 10, mainland banks that participate in the program shall report to the Guangzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China and the central sub-branch of the central bank in Shenzhen before starting the WMC business. In Hong Kong, 20 banks have expressed interest in participating. (Xia Yuanjie)