SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A new scheme that connects China's local bonds with Hong Kong promises to open the country's $9 trillion (7 trillion pounds) debt market to global investment - but investors venturing into the mainland are coming to terms with the massive community that does business not on trading platforms, but social chat apps.
The "Bond Connect" programme launched this month allows international investors to buy and sell in China’s historically restricted interbank bond market through a Hong Kong trading gateway, and has been hailed as a milestone in the opening up of the country’s capital markets.
On the mainland, however, much of the turnover in the bond market is generated from informal chat groups on QQ, a mainstream Chinese mobile chat app, where individual investors look to buy, sell, borrow and lend.
Source:http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-bonds-qq-idUKKBN19Y2Z4?il=0