Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to announce hat it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CMU OmniClear Limited (CMU OmniClear), a company established to carry out the operations of the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), to jointly explore initiatives that will enhance Hong Kong’s post-trade securities infrastructure and support the long-term development of the city’s fixed-income and currencies (FIC) ecosystem.

Through the collaboration, CMU OmniClear and HKEX will explore and pursue cooperation in areas such as realising cross-asset class efficiencies across equities and fixed income, expanding the mobilisation of Mainland bonds as collateral, enhancing Hong Kong as a bond issuance centre and developing an international central securities depository (ICSD) in Asia. 

Bonnie Y Chan, HKEX Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to be entering into this cooperation agreement with CMU OmniClear. This agreement underscores HKEX’s strategic commitment to build a vibrant, world-leading FIC ecosystem in Hong Kong. We look forward to working closely with the HKMA and CMU OmniClear to advance the development of Hong Kong’s fixed-income market, enabling the next chapter of RMB internationalisation and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre, a global risk management centre, and an offshore Renminbi (RMB) business hub.”

Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CMU OmniClear, said, “We are delighted to deepen the cooperation with HKEX on financial market infrastructures in Hong Kong. This MOU signifies an important milestone and our shared commitment to supporting the development of Hong Kong’s capital markets. This is also a pivotal step in accelerating the transformation of CMU into an ICSD in Asia upon the establishment of CMU OmniClear. With our collective efforts, we believe we can offer the market a spectrum of products across asset classes, fostering the continued development and innovation in Hong Kong’s financial markets.”

With strengthened collaboration between financial market infrastructures, the partnership seeks to provide the foundation for the roll out of enhancements to bond settlement and collateral management operations and the further expansion of risk management products crucial for the sustainable growth of Hong Kong’s capital markets.

CMU, Hong Kong’s fixed-income central securities depository (CSD) operated by CMU OmniClear, has $4.8 trillion of assets under custody and plays a key role in managing the settlement of bond transactions conducted on Bond Connect, as well as supporting the growth of Swap Connect by facilitating efficient use of collateral held with CMU.

HKEX and the HKMA have been collaborating on the development of these two Connect programmes since the launch of Bond Connect in 2017. Both programmes have hit new trading records every year since launch, thanks to growing international participation in Mainland China’s fixed-income market — the world’s second largest that has grown fivefold over the past decade to reach RMB177 trillion at the end of 2024.

Source: HKEX