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China’s fledgling Wealth Connect plan is stunted as the devil in 3 disparate systems stymies Greater Bay Area strategy for banks, brokers, insurers
- The wealth connect scheme reports paltry inflows relative to its predecessors stock connect and bond connect
- Almost two years on, the scheme has attracted investments worth only 1 per cent of its 300 billion yuan quota
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This November, some 8,000 runners will cross the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge as they participate in a half marathon sponsored by the Bank of China (Hong Kong)(BOCHK), the first time an event of such magnitude will be connecting the three administrative zones of the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The GBA is considered a powerhouse of China’s economic prowess, and comprises the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province. It is home to an estimated 86 million people, with a combined gross domestic product of US$2 trillion, similar to Italy’s economy. It would be the world’s ninth biggest economy among national economies, if it were a stand-alone entity, according to Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.
“Organising the race at this new venue brings lots of challenges for us,” said Kwan Kee, the chairman of Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates (HKAAA), who spent more than a year solving many technical problems and getting permissions from different authorities to arrange the race.
“It needed different approvals and permissions from different authorities to achieve such a goal,” Kwan told the Post on the sidelines of the race announcement on July 26.
The convolutions in getting authorities to sign off on an activity that takes place across three administrative jurisdictions underline the challenges to integrate the financial markets of all 11 cities – with three currencies and regulatory frameworks between them – in the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The biggest difficulty is in melding the open financial systems and the convertible currencies of Hong Kong and Macau with the closed capital accounts of the nine GBA cities in southern China’s Guangdong province.
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