In recent years, China's bond market has steadily advanced its opening-up, continuously enhancing its appeal to global capital. Throughout this process, Bank of China has deeply integrated into the nation's broader opening-up strategy, proactively serving as a "financial bridge" connecting domestic and international markets. Leveraging its global network and comprehensive product quotation system, it has become the primary market maker for bond transactions with overseas institutional investors.
Over the past three years, the transaction volume of bond trades between Bank of China and overseas institutional investors has consistently remained above the trillion-yuan mark, maintaining a leading position in the market.
In 2017, the Bond Connect "Northbound Trading" was officially launched, marking a significant milestone in the opening-up of China's bond market. As one of the inaugural market makers, Bank of China actively participated and has consistently ranked among the top players in terms of trading activity. To date, the bank has established trading relationships with over 500 overseas institutions and has been awarded the Bond Connect "Northbound Trading Outstanding Market Maker" title for eight consecutive years.
Following the implementation of "Southbound Trading" in 2021, which achieved two-way connectivity, Bank of China became one of the first batch of pilot domestic custodian and clearing banks for "Southbound Trading." Simultaneously, Bank of China (Hong Kong) became one of the first "Southbound Trading" market makers and was appointed by the CMU as the exclusive interest payment and redemption settlement agent, providing robust financial infrastructure support for both "bringing in" and "going out" initiatives.
In 2023, the launch of "Swap Connect" represented another step forward in the opening-up of China's bond market. Bank of China participated in the very first batch of market-wide transactions for "Swap Connect" and has focused on expanding its client base, establishing itself as one of the most active domestic quoters for the scheme.
Beyond actively assisting investors in executing trades, Bank of China was also among the first to implement new contract trading and portfolio compression services introduced by the People's Bank of China and infrastructure institutions. These initiatives have significantly enriched the interest rate risk management toolkit available to overseas investors.
In September 2025, the People's Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly issued a document further liberalizing bond repurchase business for overseas institutional investors.
Bank of China responded promptly and was successfully selected as one of the first market makers for Bond Connect "Northbound Trading" repo business. It swiftly assisted multiple overseas institutional investors in successfully executing bond repurchase transactions, becoming one of the first domestic financial institutions to achieve a business breakthrough under the new policy, thereby enhancing the efficiency of liquidity management for overseas investors.
As the opening-up of China's bond market continues its steady pace, Bank of China, with a series of "first-mover" initiatives, utilizes its global institutional network to provide investors with comprehensive financial services characterized by "all-weather responsiveness and localized support."
The bank has established a full-product quotation system covering funding, spot bonds, and derivatives, and holds comprehensive qualifications such as market maker and settlement agent, making it a major market maker in the interbank bond market.
Leveraging the global advantages of its group, it provides investors with "one-stop" end-to-end services ranging from agreement signing and quotation trading to clearing and settlement.
Thanks to its excellent market-making capabilities and extensive service experience, it efficiently meets the investment, financing, and hedging needs of investors through direct request-for-quote processes, holding a leading market position.
Bank of China will continue to leverage its strengths in cross-border business, actively build bridges between Chinese and international capital markets, continually enrich its multi-layered product offerings, and contribute even greater strength to the high-level opening-up of China's financial markets.
