A STOCK connect program linking the stock exchanges in Shanghai and London will be broadened to include Shenzhen-listed companies, as well as capital markets in Germany and Switzerland, China’s securities regulator said Friday.

Expanding the Shanghai-London Stock Connect program helps facilitate cross-border investment and promotes the opening-up of China’s capital markets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said.

Under the current program, companies traded in Shanghai and London can list on each other’s bourses, by selling so-called depository receipts. Chinese companies can raise fresh capital, but U.K.-listed companies can not, only allowed to issue Chinese Depository Receipts (CDRs) backed by existing shares.

On Friday, the CSRC published revised rules for consultation, allowing offshore companies to raise fresh capital under the program, which will expand to include Germany and Switzerland.

In addition, qualified Shenzhen-listed firms can also participate in the expanded program.

So far, four Chinese companies are listed on the London stock exchange under the program, but no U.K.-listed firms have sold CDRs in Shanghai.

Brokerage Huatai Securities Co. was the first Chinese company to sell global depositary receipts in London in June in 2019. (SD-Agencies)