2018年CRI Many firsts for the Shanghai-London stock connect, says CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group（在线收听）

The head of the London Stock Exchange has been actively promoting the number of firsts that will be involved in the Shanghai-London Stock Connect system when it opens later on this year.

The Shanghai-London stock connect will allow global investors to benefit from China's growth through London.

UK-listed companies will be able to access Chinese investors directly.

Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group, says the project has "many firsts."

"It is the first time any foreign companies will be able to list in (the Chinese) mainland through the mechanism of the Chinese depositary receipts and the first time the Shanghai listed companies will able to raise capital abroad through instruments that are interconnected with their domestic shares, it's the first time Chinese investors will be able to access international stocks from China without being subject to domestic platform controls, it's also the first time international investors will able to access Chinese A-shares from outside China and through international trading and settlement practices," says Rathi.

Rathi also says China is one of the most exciting capital markets in the world, and is on track to be among the largest. 

"Chinese exchanges on their biggest day of trading have managed to trade over one trillion dollars of securities in a single day, that is many times the next largest to the United States and many times that of the UK or Europe, so this is a vast market and increasingly sophisticated market primarily driven by retail investor participation."

The Shanghai-London stock connect has been in the works since 2015.

In January of this year, it was announced that the project will be rolled out by the end of 2018. 

Rathi says the new link will offer Chinese companies immediate access to the world's largest pool of global capital through the London Stock Exchange.

"One significant advantage for Chinese companies participating in the system is the ability to use their international listed securities for acquisitions. The securities listed on the London market are used around the world. Indeed we've seen last year 252 billion dollars of M&A transactions using our security and that should open up all of the opportunities that we've heard about before," says Rathi.

China's securities regulator has already published a series of draft rules for the Shanghai-London stock connect for public consultation, putting the project one step closer to its launch.