London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

China approves second listing for Shanghai-London Stock Connect amid strained Sino-British ties

China approves second listing for Shanghai-London Stock Connect amid strained Sino-British ties

China revives Shanghai-London Stock Connect as the US threatens to bar Chinese companies from American bourses. Approval for insurer comes amid fraught Sino-British ties over China’s perceived assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy

China’s stock market regulators have allowed one of the nation’s biggest insurers to list its shares in London under a year-old stock exchange cooperation scheme, putting fragile Sino-British ties to the test.

China Pacific Insurance, the fourth-largest by revenue, plans to issue 126 million global depositary receipts (GDRs) on London Stock Exchange after getting approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it said in a filing on Wednesday.

The GDRs represent about 10 per cent of the insurer’s A shares traded on the Shanghai stock exchange, it said. Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, will take up part of the offering, it added. The listing is subject to approval from LSE, which did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Despite potential risks stemming from the UK's stance on Hong Kong, China still has a better relationship with the country than with the US, Alan Li, portfolio manager at Atta Capital in Hong Kong.

“The UK may be performing its duties under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, but it has not gone towards the direction of sanctions or containment of China [like the US]," said Li. "China may quicken the development of the Stock Connect to cushion the impact from the US.”

The Shanghai-based insurer is only the second company to be approved for listing under the so-called Shanghai-London Stock Connect programme launched in June 2019. Brokerage Huatai Securities is its first and only listing to date.

Since then, however, Sino-British relations have deteriorated over the UK’s perceived support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong that took off shortly after the stock market cooperation, prompting China to freeze listing approvals.

China has revived the stock programme amid heightened hostility with the US, as the Trump administration threatened to shut out Chinese companies from American stock exchanges.

The China Pacific Insurance announcement came on the same day Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain is prepared to give Hongkongers with British National (Overseas) passports a path to citizenship. The move was in response to China’s decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.

Swiss Re has agreed to subscribe for up to 1.5 per cent of the overall stake, which will be subject to a three-year lock-up period, according to today’s announcement.

The listing may be a drawn out affair. Huatai Securities, based in Jiangsu province, raised US$1.54 billion through the Stock Connect programme a year ago. Its June 17 debut took nearly seven months, between the CSRC approval in November 2018 and LSE’s on June 4.

The resumption of London listings could also provide another avenue for some of the nation’s biggest companies to tap global capital for expansion as they struggle to climb out of the depths of an economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chinese regulators have recently resumed approving such listing applications, the South China Morning Post reported earlier, as they seek to hedge against an intensifying clampdown on Chinese companies listed in the US.



For example, the US Senate passed a bill last month that could potentially delist Chinese firms from US exchanges, after President Donald Trump banned the main federal pension fund from investing in Chinese companies.

China Pacific Insurance rose as much as 2.3 per cent in morning trading in Shanghai on Wednesday after the announcement. Its stock in Hong Kong climbed by as much as 4.8 per cent.

The new share issuance is unlikely to weigh on the price of its existing shares, given the amount was just 10 per cent of its A shares, Bocom International said in a report on Wednesday.

The introduction of Swiss Re, which is estimated to subscribe to 16.5 per cent of the GDRs, as a cornerstone investor will help the Chinese insurer enhance its corporate governance and quicken its global expansion, the report says.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×