to take note of them as a useful tool for credit risk mitigation and regulatory capital management without having to transfer their portfolio assets. this feature is extremely useful to help overcome typical constraints such as loan assignment and confidentiality restrictions. such products can offer an additional investment opportunity for institutional investors. 14. when the new capital rules become effective in june this year, the full spectrum of synthetic securitisation structures will be available for use in hong kong. for example, the use of special purpose vehicles ( spvs ) as providers of guarantees or credit default swaps, which is a common structure for synthetic securitisation products, will be permitted subject to relevant criteria1. it effectively lifts the headroom for growth of the synthetic securitisation 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches market here. 15. earlier on, i briefly touched on the hkmc, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the hkma. i should also elaborate a bit more on its role in promotion of securitisation in hong kong. 16. one of the key business mandates of the hkmc is to develop securitisation and other financial products that contribute financial stability and facilitate the development of the local financial markets. 17. throughout the years, it has been a trailblazer in different areas. for example, it is the most active corporate issuer in hong kong dollar debt market in 2020, issuing us $ 2. 5 billion corporate debts under a multi - currency medium - term note programme. 18. in terms of securitisation, the hkmc has issued a total of hk $ 13. 2 billion mortgage - backed securities since 1999, and has helped develop the local secondary mortgage market through purchasing mortgage loans from banks, and packaging the loans into mortgage - backed securities for investors with standardisation of product structure and documentation. 19. the hkmc also launched an infrastructure financing and securitisation business in 2019. it is now in the process of warehousing global infrastructure loans from banks with a view to packaging and securitising them at an appropriate time in future. the initiative is welcomed by market players such as multilateral development institutions, commercial banks and insurance agencies. it is demonstrated by the fact that the hkmc has successively signed cooperation framework agreements with international finance corporation, sinosure and mufg. we expect that more will be forthcoming. 20. within a short 2 years timeframe, the hkmc has managed to make great progress in acquiring and wareho

gdp, but it is still growing at a rapid pace with a strong pipeline of ipos of companies from the mainland and elsewhere. 7. in the bond space, there is a fairly common misconception that we do not have a bond market to speak of. yes, it is true that corporate hk dollar bond market is small, thanks to the success of the linked exchange rate system which enables our corporations to tap into the much deeper investor pool of us dollar bond markets without much currency risk or hedging costs. but as revealed in a recent report by the international capital markets association ( icma ), hong kong is actually the largest centre for arranging asian international bond issuance, capturing 34 % ( or us $ 196 billion ) of asian international bonds in 2020, followed by the us ( 18 % ), the uk ( 17 % ) and singapore ( 5 % ). 8. hong kong is also well ahead of other major international financial centres in terms of arranging first - time bond issuance, capturing 75 % ( us $ 18 billion ) of the asian market versus singapore ( 9 % ) and the uk ( 5 % ). issuers and investors alike are well served by our comprehensive financial ecosystem underpinned by free flow of capital, an internationallyaligned common law system and regulatory environment, and the presence of world - class professional services with talents from all over the world. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches 9. all these mean that hong kong is well placed to serve as a centre for asian structured financing just like other financial intermediation that we are doing, as this market continues to mature in this part of the world. 10. the macro trends are also supportive. with the record low interest rates and abundant liquidity in many advanced economies, investors are keen to look for some decent yields for their investments. asia including china is clearly a key focus area. take the bond connect as an example, in 2020 the scheme recorded an average daily turnover of nearly rmb30 billion, representing a growth of 82 % over 2019. this accounts for 52 % of foreign investors ’ total turnover in the cibm market, and shows that hong kong continues to be the preferred channel for investing in the mainland market. the next exciting thing will be the launch of the southbound bond connect, which will open up a ground - breaking conduit for mainland investors to access the international bond market via hong kong. all these will be important impetus for the further development of fixed income including structured credit