Ms. Li Peishan, Director and CEO of HSBC Investment Management Limited, stated that the implementation of the Cross-border Wealth Management Connect for 3 years has provided individual investors in the Greater Bay Area with a more diverse selection of wealth management products. Data shows that since the implementation of Cross-border Wealth Management Connect 2.0, the total amount of funds flowing into Hong Kong from the mainland from March to July this year has reached 68.2 billion RMB, an increase of over 24 times compared to the same period last year. She pointed out that based on the bank's observation, most of the mainland individual investors under the Southbound Connect hold deposit products in Hong Kong and Macau. Ms. Li Peishan mentioned that in recent years, Hong Kong has been able to offer relatively higher interest rate deposit products compared to the mainland, and investors under the Southbound Connect are generally interested in wealth management products with higher interest rates and lower risks. It is widely expected in the market that the Fed will consider cutting interest rates, and the bank believes that the attractiveness of other investment products under the Southbound Connect, including investment funds and bonds, will increase. She stated that there are rumors that the first batch of mainland securities firms will be included in the Cross-border Wealth Management Connect soon, which will help further strengthen the penetration of the Connect, especially in the Southbound direction. Residents in the Greater Bay Area who are accustomed to investing through securities firms can easily access Cross-border Wealth Management Connect products, which will facilitate further promotion of financial market connectivity in the Greater Bay Area. She pointed out that from the perspective of global fund flows, the bank has noticed a continuous inflow of funds into the bond market, reflecting investors actively seeking investment products with high yield visibility and lower volatility. In fact, looking at the market fund flows from January to August 2024, there has been a continued interest in fixed income products, with approximately $424.5 billion flowing into the bond market since the beginning of the year, which is 1.5 times higher than the total amount last year.