China

UBS and two others announce China JV plans, the domestic iron ore futures contract opens to foreign traders, and Shanghai and Shenzhen get approval for their Dhaka exchange acquisition plans.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have won a bid to buy a 25% stake in Bangladesh’s Dhaka Stock Exchange, according to a joint statement from the Chinese acquirers.

China Kepei Education Group has filed a listing application in Hong Kong through sponsors Citi and CCB International.

China’s regulators are planning to push ahead with a long-awaited delivery versus payments upgrade for Bond Connect as early as next month, GlobalRMB understands. The move addresses one of the major headaches for foreign investors using the scheme to buy onshore renminbi bonds.

National governments must ensure the sustainability of infrastructure financing before signing up to projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Takehiko Nakao, president of the Asian Development Bank, told GlobalRMB at the development bank’s annual conference on Thursday.

Bank of China (BoC) plans to play to its strengths by deploying its balance sheet and providing liquidity to parched investors. With syndicate and trading operations in place, it has hired Tim Skeet as head of Western European origination.

There are two phrases that don’t often go together in the capital markets: ‘13% yield’ and ‘two year bond’. But that eye-watering funding cost was just what China’s Hydoo International Holding paid on its latest exchange offer, marking the highest yield for a dollar bond since 2015. Bankers think there will be plenty more where that came from, writes Addison Gong.

Xiaomi Corp set its $10bn IPO in motion this week with an initial filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The move is a big win for the city, as the Chinese smartphone maker will be the first high-profile issuer to make use of Hong Kong’s new listing rules that allow founders to control a company with weighted voting rights (WVR). John Loh reports.

China’s Kingboard Chemical Holdings has returned to the offshore loan market for a HK$6bn ($764m) borrowing, less than six months after signing its last syndicated transaction.

China Aoyuan Property Group’s $200m bond dropped sharply in the secondary market on Thursday as global markets wreaked havoc on the company’s notes.

UBS has submitted an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to bump up the stake in its China joint venture to 51%, becoming the first international bank to take advantage of China’s recent move to open up its financial sector.

The China cross-border interbank payment system (Cips) started 24 hour operations on May 2, the central bank announced. But Swift thinks there is plenty of room to improve China's clearing and settlement infrastructure.