First Irish UCITS funds win stock connect approval
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First Irish UCITS funds win stock connect approval 30 January 2017Dublin Reporter: Stephanie Palmer
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Value Partners Ireland, an Irish UCITS funds umbrella, has become the first to be approved by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) to start investing in China A-shares through the new Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.
Value Partners was supported by HSBC, which, the bank says, has been working closely with the CBI around approvals for UCITS funds for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect programme, as it did when the original Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect launched in 2014.
The new stock connect programme began operations on 5 December 2016. On 16 December, the CBI started to accept invitations from Irish UCITS funds to invest through the platform.
Ciara Houlihan, head of trustee and fiduciary services with HSBC Institutional Trust Services in Ireland, which acts as depositary to Value Partners Ireland, said: "We understand that this is the first Irish UCITS funds to be approved to invest in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. HSBC has a long track record of engagement and connectivity in Asian markets and is exceptionally well placed to enable Irish regulated funds to access this latest programme."
Florence Lee, HSBC’s head of China sales and business development for securities services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, added: “HSBC is delighted to have supported these funds in accessing the Shenzhen stock market, which offers investors the opportunity to invest in some of China’s fastest-growing companies.”
“These advances reinforce the significant strides made in opening China’s capital markets to European and now Irish investment vehicles.”
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