HONG Kong hopes to start a program for Chinese mainland investors to buy shares directly on the city's stock market soon, Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam said yesterday.
"It's an important project and we hope to start it soon," Yam told reporters at a conference in Hong Kong. He added that the city was ready to facilitate the flows of capital for the "Through Train" program to start.
China on August 20 announced a pilot program under which mainland investors with a Bank of China account in Tianjin would be allowed to buy Hong Kong equities, Bloomberg News said.
The Hang Seng Index has surged since then, prompting China's Premier Wen Jiabao to say on November 3 that the government needed more time to assess the risks to the stability of Hong Kong's financial system.