Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is, this week, pleased to welcome the first group of participants to join its pilot programme for HKEX Synapse (Synapse), HKEX’s new Stock Connect settlement acceleration platform.

HKEX this week welcomed the first group of participants to join its pilot programme for HKEX #Synapse, the new #StockConnect settlement acceleration platform. The programme will help further enhance Synapse’s design and features ahead of its launch. More: https://t.co/LdJIhLnnNv pic.twitter.com/37V5o6rHau

— HKEX 香港交易所 (@HKEXGroup) June 28, 2021

As part of the pilot programme, market participants, including asset managers, brokers, custodians, and clearing participants, will take part in workshops and testing of Synapse, to familiarise themselves with the platform and understand how their own settlement operations infrastructure can efficiently integrate within the Synapse environment.

The programme will help to further enhance HKEX Synapse’s design and features, ahead of its launch, targeted for 2022.

HKEX Head of Post Trade Glenda So said: “This is another key development in optimizing the two way flow of capital between HKEX and our Mainland exchange partners, through Stock Connect. The launch of HKEX Synapse will significantly improve connectivity for global investors, enhancing their post-trade capacity and their ability to handle the significant trading volumes now flowing through Stock Connect.”

In the first quarter of 2021, Stock Connect’s Northbound and Southbound average daily turnover reached record quarterly highs of RMB126.8 billion and $60.8 billion respectively.

In November 2020, HKEX announced its plans to launch Synapse, which uses DAML smart contracts to help institutional investors participating in Northbound Stock Connect to better manage their post-trade operations, in particular to meet the tight settlement cycle of the Mainland China’s securities market.

HKEX Synapse will standardise and streamline the post-trade workflows of Northbound Stock Connect, maximising efficiencies for market participants in a transparent, secure and reliable manner.

“We would like to thank each of the pilot participants for their support in the development of HKEX Synapse, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them, and the market as we drive this latest innovation forward,” So added.

In deploying DAML smart contracts, HKEX Synapse will be able to simultaneously create settlement instructions and provide status updates to all parties along the settlement chain, facilitating concurrent processing and greatly improving transparency for market participants.

Details of the pilot programme, including the names of the pilot participants and technical specifications, are available on the HKEX website.

Source: HKEX