(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- China will further open its bond market to foreign investors, People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng said at the China International Bond Investment Forum in Beijing this morning.

Pan pledged to push ahead with the development of bond exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, and the linking of the China Central Depository & Clearing with bond depository authorities in other countries. China's Foreign Exchange Administration is studying optimizing systemic arrangements for overseas investors to participate in foreign exchange hedging transactions, Pan said.

Net foreign capital inflow into China's USD12 trillion bond market stood at about USD100 billion last year, making up 80 percent of the net amount into emerging markets. 

Some 1,186 overseas institutional investors held Chinese bonds worth CNY1.73 trillion (USD256 billion) at the end of last year. Foreign holdings of Chinese bonds had risen to 2.3 percent at the end of December, Pan said, up from 1.6 percent at the end of 2017.

Editor: Ben Armour