China to launch pilot program to streamline panda bond registration, issuance

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China will launch a pilot program to streamline the panda bond registration and issuance mechanism in a bid to further open the country's bond market, an industrial body announced on Tuesday.

As part of the pilot program, which will take effect on Aug. 1, the issuer base for universal registration will be expanded, according to a notice released by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

The association will also introduce a frequent issuer program to facilitate issuances by overseas entities and reduce repetitive disclosure.

Panda bonds are yuan-denominated debts sold by overseas issuers in China. By the end of June, the accumulated issuance volume registered by the association had neared 400 billion yuan (about 59.27 billion U.S. dollars).