To further facilitate global investors to access China bond market, China Foreign Exchange Trade System (National Interbank Funding Centre) (hereinafter as CFETS) introduced MarketAxess as the third overseas electronic trading platform under both CIBM Direct and Bond Connect channel, with guidance from People's Bank of China (PBOC), on 27 of September 2021.

MarketAxess is one of the leading fixed income electronic trading platforms in the world. As the third platform to be connected to CFETS, MarketAxess allows overseas investors under CIBM Direct and Bond Connect to send RFQ (request for quote) messages to onshore dealers and trade with onshore dealers directly in CFETS system, via the trading link between CFETS and MarketAxess. Also, MarketAxess supports international payment mode under Bond Connect channel.

As an important financial infrastructure of China's interbank bond market, CFETS has been committed to facilitating global investors to invest in the interbank bond market while continuously providing better services through closer collaboration with global trading platforms. Since 2017, CFETS has built up trading links with three overseas trading platforms, including Tradeweb, Bloomberg and MarketAxess, under CIBM Direct and Bond Connect channels, and can well support overseas investors to access China’s interbank bond market and trade directly with onshore dealers in CFETS system through their familiar platforms. This significantly improves the trading experience of overseas investors, satisfies overseas institutional investors’ investment demand for RMB bonds and plays a positive role in promoting the high-quality development of the opening-up of CIBM. 

Next, CFETS would continuously spare no efforts to implement the work arrangements of PBOC on the opening-up of financial market, accelerate the construction of the primary trading venue for Renminbi and relevant products, further improve the convenience for overseas investors’ investment into CIBM and promote the high-quality opening-up of CIBM.