Shanghai/Shenzhen Stock Connect

Mutual links of China's 3 stock markets

Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect opened in advance in Nov 2014, and Shenzhen Stock Connect, upon approval of the SFC and the CSRC, was launched on 5 Dec 2016. I-Access clients, without the need to sign additional documents, can trade in selected A shares listed in both Shanghai Stock Exchange ("SSE") and Shenzhen Stock Exchange ("SZE").

Shanghai Stock Connect and Shenzhen Stock Connect open the gateway to invest directly in Mainland enterprises. Investors no longer need to trade through the channels such as ETF or QFII to buy A shares. Compared with A-share ETF or QFII, the two stock connects have lower transaction costs, higher flexibility and freedom.

Stock characteristics of Shanghai and Shenzhen A shares

The board lot of Shanghai and Shenzhen A shares is 100 shares. The buying quantity must be 100 shares or its integral multiples, but selling quantity can be board lots and/or odd lots. Both board lot and odd lot orders are in the same market queue, unlike the separate queues in Hong Kong stock.

The largest quantity for an A-share order is 1 million shares. Price spread is RMB0.01 for all A shares.

Clients cannot withdraw A shares by scrip or ISI, but can transfer A-share holdings using SI.

Mainland A-share markets do not allow day trading, so when investor buys some A shares on day T, you can only sell them on day T+1.

Shanghai Stock Connect and Shenzhen Stock Connect use RMB for transactions. Clients taking part in A-share trading have to either deposit sufficient RMB or use I-Access exchange function to convert RMB. Prime exchange rates are offered for large amounts of RMB conversion.

Advantages of I-Access Shanghai/Shenzhen Stock Connect

Different from other banks/brokers' short-term incentives, I-Access A-share trading commission is the lowest all over the country. Mainland investors can save substantial part of commission charges by trading at I-Access instead.

I-Access clients enjoy free A-share streaming price quotations.

ISSnet's "H/A-share duals" window shows the quotations for both H and A shares of the same listed company. HK$ or RMB can be chosen for quotations. As H and A shares have the same rights in the same listed company, investment value should be the same. However, as demand and supply in the two stock markets are different, leading to different prices for the same stock. The function allows clients to compare the H and A share prices simultaneously to act faster to capture the opportunities when the price difference of the two markets overly deviates.

Hong Kong investors having Mainland A-share accounts can now use I-Access accounts to trade A shares directly, without the burden to remit RMB to Mainland accounts. Also, the sales proceeds from the Mainland accounts may not be able to remit back to Hong Kong in full. Account money at I-Access using to invest in A shares always enjoy free-flow of capital.

I-Access clients can exchange RMB during trading hours at ISSnet or ISSnet mobile right before A-share investment, reducing currency risk.