China expands Stock Connect with yuan-denominated stocks and REITs

China’s top securities regulator wants to make it easier for the world to buy Chinese assets, and it is using one of its most successful market plumbing projects to do it. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, under Chairman Wu Qing, announced plans to expand the Stock Connect program to include yuan-denominated stocks listed in Hong Kong as well as real estate investment trusts. The announcement came in April 2024, and it signals something larger than a technical rule change: Beijing is methodically building the infrastructure for the yuan to function as a genuine global investment currency. Wu Qing took the top job at the CSRC in February 2024, and expanding Stock Connect is one of his clearest early signals about where he wants to take China’s capital markets. What Stock Connect actually is, and why this expansion matters Think of Stock Connect as a carefully controlled pipe between two reservoirs. On one side is mainland China’s massive domestic equity market. On the other is Hong Kong, one of the world’s most internationally accessible financial hubs. The pipe has been running since 2014, letting foreign investors buy mainland-listed shares through Hong Kong brokers and ...