yiu - kwan choi : launch of the cmu bond price bulletin remarks by mr yiu - kwan choi, deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the signing ceremony for the launch of cmu bond price bulletin, hong kong, 9 january 2006. * * * it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this signing ceremony for the launch of the cmu bond price bulletin. we are pleased to see the launch of the bulletin. this, we believe, will be a useful tool to help promote the retail bond market in hong kong. as you know, financial infrastructure development has always been a priority item on the hkma's policy agenda. a robust financial infrastructure is important in maintaining the stability and integrity of the monetary and financial systems and in strengthening hong kong's status as an international financial centre. over the years, we are proud that, with the support of banks and other financial institutions, the hkma has built a sophisticated financial infrastructure that meets the best international standards. having said that, we are conscious that there is always scope to further strengthen our financial infrastructure to take account of the latest technology and market developments. it was precisely for this reason that the hkma conducted a comprehensive review last year on financial infrastructure development in hong kong. the launch of the bulletin is one of the recommendations arising from this review. the objective is to provide retail investors with convenient on - line access to information on bond products and bond prices. we believe that the launch of the bulletin will help to raise product awareness and improve price transparency, thereby helping to promote the development of the retail bond market in hong kong. the bulletin is developed by the central moneymarkets unit of the hkma. we are delighted to have eight major banks, which are present here today, to be the price providers. thanks to their support, indicative bid / offer prices of over 200 bonds of different currencies issued by both public and private sector entities will be available on bulletin. investors may access the bulletin later today for bond information. the website address is https : / / www. cmu. org. hk. the bulletin also provides direct hyperlinks to the price providersa€™ websites to facilitate investors to approach the price providers for trading. relevant transaction charges imposed by individual price providers are also posted on the bulletin. retail investors can easily gain access to, and conclude trades with, the price providers in a convenient, secure and efficient manner. we are thankful to banks and potential users for

. 9 billion equivalent ) at the end of 2011. meanwhile, the growth of the rmb debt securities market has been phenomenal. in a short space of 5 years, the annual issuance amount lodged with the central moneymarkets unit ( cmu ) in hong kong increased by 16 times from a modest amount of rmb 10 billion ( usd 1. 4 billion equivalent ) in 2007 to rmb 172 billion ( usd 27. 3 billion equivalent ) in 2011. the growth momentum is expected to pick up further after china ’ s announcement to formalise the use of rmb in foreign direct investment ( fdi ) in 2011. the upside is very significant as china ’ s total fdi amounted to usd 116 billion in 2011, or rmb 750 billion equivalent. besides facilitating the rapid development of the sukuk and dim sum bond markets, more importantly, the pilot platform will contribute significantly to financial stability in the asian region. with the advanced economies undergoing structural adjustment and fiscal consolidation, the two - speed recovery will continue to entice portfolio flows into asia. the key challenges for asia are to channel such flows to productive use, reduce concentration in short - term positions of the more volatile asset classes, and to avoid such flows spiking up a bis central bankers ’ speeches property price bubble. channelling the inflows into the bond market will serve these useful purposes as the investors are typically institutional investors who take long - term positions in strategic economic sectors. the global financial crisis has reminded us of the destructive powers of a liquidity crunch and the need for quick access to local currency liquidity in times of stress. in particular, the increased risk aversion arising from the recent financial crises and heightened alertness to the counterparty exposure have raised the demand for secured lending. as an illustration, the average tripartite collateral management deals outstanding administered by euroclear bank increased substantially from eur 76 billion in 2001 to eur 325 billion in 2011. an important function of the pilot platform is to enable financial institutions to make use of securities held in one of the partner systems as collateral to conduct secured borrowing in the local currency of another partner economy. as an example, a european bank can make use of its securities held with euroclear bank as collateral to borrow hong kong dollar to meet the liquidity needs of its hong kong subsidiary. the cross - border and cross - currency collateral management service to be provided by the pilot platform is a timely solution to meet this market need, and