(Yicai) Jan. 25 -- China has tripled the investment limit for individuals investing in the pilot cross-border wealth management connect scheme in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to better promote the interconnection of financial markets in the southern Chinese region.

Residents in the Greater Bay Area can now invest up to CNY3 million (USD421,790) in the products included in the Cross-Boundary Wealth Management Connect, according to the newly-released rules of the pilot scheme issued by the Guangdong branch of the People’s Bank of China and the local bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration yesterday.

The new rules also lowered the minimum qualification threshold for investors, allowed financial institutions other than banks, such as brokers, to participate in the program, and included more qualified investment products to attract more individual investors and institutions.

The rule update will help investors in the Greater Bay Area to allocate their cross-border financial assets tailored for their needs while promoting the regional integration of financial services and people’s livelihood and providing more diversified investment and financial service channels to local investors.

Launched in 2021, the Cross-Boundary Wealth Management Connect scheme allows residents in the Greater Bay Area to access cross-border wealth management products sold by banks in the region. Chinese mainland residents can purchase qualified wealth management products sold by banks in Hong Kong and Macao by opening special investment accounts, and vice versa.

Sixty-seven lenders and 69,000 individual investors in the Greater Bay Area had participated in the Cross-Boundary Wealth Management Connect program as of the end of last year, handling a total of CNY12.8 billion (USD1.8 billion) worth of cross-border transfers of related wealth management funds. Last year, they were handled CNY10.1 billion of such funds, up nearly four-fold from the year before.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione