The move will allow even more investors from around the world to access Bond Connect, a mutual bond access programme between Hong Kong and Mainland China.

HKEX Chief Executive Charles Li said: “We are very pleased to welcome Bloomberg and its terminals to Bond Connect, our innovative link to the Mainland bond market. Allowing institutional investors to access the Mainland’s interbank bond market through Bloomberg terminals and Bond Connect will further boost international participation, contributing to the growing relevance of the nation’s bond market.”

“We look forward to working with regulators in the Mainland and Hong Kong, as well as our partners in the trading and financial infrastructure space, to further optimise Bond Connect.”

The addition of a new international trading platform was among several measures announced in July by the People’s Bank of China to support the sustainable development of the Bond Connect programme.

Bond Connect is operated by the Bond Connect Company Limited (BCCL). BCCL is a joint venture established by China Foreign Exchange Trade System and HKEX to support Bond Connect-related trading services.

The launch of Bond Connect in July 2017 was another significant breakthrough in the opening of the Mainland bond market, as well as an important step in closer interaction and cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong.

Market participation in Bond Connect has been growing steadily, with average daily volumes reaching RMB3.60 billion in the first 10 months of the year. In addition, the number of registered overseas institutional investors participating in Bond Connect also continued to increase. As at the end of October, there were 450 approved international institutional investors in Bond Connect, up from 247 at the end of 2017.