(Yicai) April 24 -- Nearly 24,300 individual investors participated in the cross-border wealth management connect scheme of China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the first month since the launch of its new version.

Some 24,288 new investors joined the cross-border WMC in March, compared with 2,391 in February, according to data released by the Guangdong province branch of the People's Bank of China yesterday.

Launched in September 2021, the cross-border WMC allows eligible Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao residents in the Greater Bay Area to invest in wealth management products distributed by banks in each other's market through a closed-loop funds flow channel between their respective banking systems. A new version of the scheme lowering investor requirements and increasing their quota was released on Feb. 26.

Hong Kong and Macao registered 1,051 new investors for the northbound section of the WMC scheme last month. They traded CNY18 million (USD2.5 million) worth of cross-border products in the period.

Meanwhile, some 23,237 Chinese mainland investors were added to participate in the southbound leg of the WMC scheme in March, involving almost CNY13.1 billion (USD1.8 billion) worth of cross-border remittance and transfer.

As of March 31, a total of 97,700 investors had participated in the WMC scheme, of which 47,400 were Hong Kong and Macao residents, and 50,300 were mainlanders, involving CNY28.4 billion worth of cross-border remittance and transfer.

After the launch of the WMC scheme's new version, multiple pilot banks offered stimulus for new account openings, including a 10 percent annualized interest rate for fixed-term US dollar deposits and a 6 percent annualized rate for fixed-term Chinese yuan ones.

Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation upgraded its cross-border wealth management services after the new version came into effect, Daniel Chan, vice president of HSBC China and general manager of the lender's Greater Bay Area office, told Yicai.

HSBC, which can provide northbound and southbound investors with about 250 low-to-medium risk products, also enhanced its selection of fund portfolio to provide customers with over 100 funds investing in international and Asian markets, Chan noted.

Development Bank of Singapore provides investors with over 220 wealth management products, including deposits in 11 different currencies with over 100 newly-added fund and bond products, a staffer at the lender told Yicai. 

Apart from conventional fixed-term deposits, DBS also added yield-producing products, such as 10-year bonds with yields of 4 percent to 5.5 percent, the staffer noted. The bank also has certificates of deposit, which are quite suitable for investors pursuing relatively stable returns with low risks.

HSBC customers mostly invested in deposits-type assets in the southbound WMC scheme and in hybrid and bond-focused funds in the northbound leg in the past year to reduce the risk from investing only in the Chinese mainland market, Chan said.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Futura Costaglione