While many roads lead to mainland China’s equity market, the Stock Connect Program is the most preferred by far, “沪港通”的日均成交额(ADT)增至约18点，创历史新高.84 billion in 2021, up 32% from 2020. 被誉为国际投资者从香港登机的“直达列车”, “沪港通”是一条让境外投资者能够直接进入中国股市的交易通道.
In collaboration with 存, 香港交易及结算所有限公司(港交所)推出新结算平台“港交所Synapse”. 阿列克谢马拉什, 据导演, Strategic Alliances in APAC, held a discussion with Edwin Lee, HKEX Senior Vice President in the Markets Division, about the latest developments in Synapse.
Related: Improving Global Investors' Access to Stock Connect
AM: Can you explain what HKEX Synapse is?
EL: 自2014年启动沪港通以来，吸引了大量外国投资者的兴趣, 通过连接香港和中国内地的清算所，港交所拥有独特的交易结算和清算能力. The inclusion of China A-shares in global indexes, such as MSCI and FTSE Russell, has bolstered investor interest in the Chinese onshore equity market, making the A-share investment channel more relevant than ever. Although trade volume of the Stock Connect Program continues to grow, operational challenges remain, in particular time-zone and settlement cycle differences. While most markets, including Hong Kong, operate on a T+2 settlement cycle, 中国大陆的T+0结算结构要求国际交易在同一天执行和结算，结算处理窗口大约在市场收盘后4小时.
We developed a solution, in collaboration with 存, 以补充北向股票通现有的交易后基础设施，并解决市场参与者的痛点.
2018年，我们使用Digital Asset的DAML智能合约技术设计了一个概念验证. 根据包括买方公司在内的60家全球行业参与者的咨询和反馈, custodians and brokers, Synapse解决方案是作为一个自动化结算平台创建的，该平台标准化和简化了北向股票连接的交易后工作流程. Synapse与存的机构交易处理(ITP)服务集成，可自动执行交易确认和结算通知流程，并提供无缝的结算体验.
AM: How does it fit into the Stock Connection Program?
EL: The integration between 存’s Institutional Trade Processing (ITP) services 和Synapse将使ITP用户能够在存的中医™上匹配他们的交易，并将交易信息与警报®的正确长期结算指示(ssi)附加在一起. 结算通知和交易信息将从ITP平台流向Synapse进行预结算处理. Synapse将创建并发送交易细节，供托管人和清算经纪人同时处理.
然后，Synapse会将结算指示传送至香港交易所的中央结算结算系统(中央结算系统)，以便在中央证券存管处进行核对. 因为结算指令是由突触参与者同时处理的, and are transparent to said participants, 各方将能够比目前的顺序处理环境更早地识别和解决贸易例外, reducing the risk of trade failure.
问:Synapse将如何改变沪港通的结算流程?
EL: a股被纳入主要指数吸引了许多国际资产管理公司, buy-side hedge funds and passive index-tracking funds to China’s equity market. Because of its ease of access, 与其他a股投资渠道相比，沪港通正成为投资者的首选. 这些国际投资者中有许多是中国市场的新手，他们将需要调整自己的操作流程，以赶上紧迫的结算期限. 而国际投资者可以利用当前的顺序流程，根据经纪商/交易商提供的单面结算细节来结算交易, it exposes international investors to settlement risk.
Operating as a standardized and centralized platform, Synapse disseminates settlement instructions to all parties simultaneously, 允许并发处理，同时对交易的处理状态提供完全的透明度. Once the required consensus is reached and approvals received, Synapse will deliver the settlement instructions to CCASS for settlement. With real-time connection to CCASS, Synapse还将在匹配或结算批处理运行后立即向交易各方提供结算状态更新. 结果是, investors and their counterparties will have full transparency, 更好的控制, and more efficient management of the entire settlement chain.
AM:在结算过程中，Synapse如何使不同的交易对手受益?
EL: 国际投资者将实时了解其交易的结算状态, 哪一种方法可以减轻结算窗口过紧带来的压力. By standardizing and streamlining 帖子-trade workflows, 它帮助投资者以透明和安全的方式最大限度地提高连通性和效率.
托管人将了解谁接受并批准了特定的交易, 为他们提供必要的信息，以便在截止时间之前快速管理和解决贸易异常. Synapse还内置了额外的功能，可以毫不费力地处理最后一刻的更改.
我们已经与经纪人/交易商社区进行了对话，并将重新邀请他们进行咨询, 获得反馈, and ensure an equally seamless workflow.
AM: Will Synapse affect the existing trading arrangements? Can you share the experience of the first phase of the pilot program?
EL: 内地与香港的证券交易所和结算所之间现有的“沪港通”跨境交易和结算安排保持不变.
目前, 我们共有13家沪港通一级用户参与了第一阶段的试点计划, including seven custodians – BNP, 纽约梅隆银行, 花旗银行, 汇丰银行, 北美信托银行, Standard Chartered Bank, 和道富银行. Our pilot users from the buy-side community include China Asset Management, CSOP Asset Management, 汇丰银行 Asset Management, 景顺, Mirae Asset Global Investments, and Mondrian Investment 合作伙伴.
这些公司参与了Synapse平台的测试，以了解他们的结算操作基础设施如何有效地集成到Synapse环境中. Their feedback has been instrumental to the success of the pilot; we look forward to working with them to further enhance HKEX Synapse’s design and features to ensure a successful project.