The pace of China's futures market opening to the outside world is gradually accelerating. How should we continue to promote cooperation between domestic and foreign exchanges in the future? During the 2019 China (Zhengzhou) International Futures Forum held in Zhengzhou from Sep 1st to 2nd, many participants said that interconnection should be actively promoted, cross-border transaction efficiency should be continuously improved, futures market internationalization should be promoted, and real economy development should be well served.

Promoted by policy support and supervision, China's futures industry has been opening up to the outside world at an accelerating pace, and the international futures variety camp has continued to expand. Up to now, China has four open varieties of crude oil, iron ore, PTA futures and No.20 rubber. PTA futures is the only polyester futures in the world. Since the beginning of the internationalization journey, 115 overseas customers have registered accounts in China, and the international influence of Chinese futures is increasing.

China's Futures Internationalization Degree Continuously Improves

Wang Yamei, deputy general manager of ZCE, believes that, on the one hand, the important symbol of high-quality futures market is the broad representation of futures prices and greater influence. Cross-border trading is to allow more traders to participate in the futures market, enhance the ability and level of price discovery, and the resulting prices can fully reflect the international supply and demand relationship. On the other hand, with domestic enterprises "going out" to join overseas markets, foreign enterprises "introducing" to invest in the Chinese market and actively promoting the development of cross-border transactions are conducive to meeting the growing risk management needs of global enterprises.

Lu Feng, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Futures Exchange, said that in SHFE, the stock exchange had made in-depth research on the docking of capital markets in 37 countries and regions, and had shared the feasibility analysis of investors' participation in China's futures market with investors and regulators in the global market through various channels, and was currently working on the third batch of 18 countries for regional legal analysis. According to the situation of crude oil futures, foreign investors hold 20% positions and have completed 12 contract deliveries, which lays a good foundation for overseas futures investors to familiarize themselves with the market.

According to Chen Anping, Director-General of International Cooperation Department of Dalian Commodity Exchange, at present, the price correlation of iron ore futures at China and abroad is constantly improving, and the hedging effect is gradually emerging. This year, the correlation between iron ore futures and spot prices is 0.98, which can effectively help real enterprises to achieve risk management demand. At the same time, overseas industries began to negotiate with upstream and downstream customers according to the prices of DCE Iron Ore and Zhengzhou PTA futures, and the pricing power began to tilt to the domestic market and the price of Chinese futures varieties is widely recognized in the international market.

"China's futures market has accumulated experience over the past 30 years and adopted best practices to lay the foundation for the development of the Asia-Pacific region and major Western futures markets. For international investors or traders, it is time to invest in China and hope that China will have more open international products. Christopher Fix, managing director of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, believes that China's futures market has bright prospects for opening up and better promoting cross-border transactions will be the trend of the times.

Opening to the outside world should always keep risks under control

At present, the implementation of "one account, one code" in domestic futures trading is conducive to the supervision and risk control of the market by the competent authorities, and the penetrating supervision and independent third-party margin deposit control system have achieved remarkable results. Some foreign investors said that they are used to "getting on the bus first and buying tickets later", and that the cost of compliance is relatively high, and there are still some restrictions on participating in investment in China's futures market.

Wang Chunqing, director of the research department of China Futures Association, believes that by opening up specific futures varieties, more and more international investors will enter the Chinese market, and many parties will find a convergence point in the process of interconnection.

You Hang, Director of International Cooperation Department of China Financial Futures Exchange, believes that in the process of continuing opening up, the existing rules are gradually improving to meet the trading habits of international investors, while taking into account Chinese characteristics. Under the background of the active promotion of international cooperation in China's capital market, it is necessary to strengthen risk management within the market.

"Understanding the process of financial products and financial transactions in an all-round way as far as possible and continuing to strengthen the interconnection and integration of cross-border transactions are conducive to individual risk management." Bill Herder, Asia-Pacific head of the International Futures Association, said.

中国期货国际化交易提质加速

中国期货市场对外开放步伐逐步加快，未来应如何持续推进境内外交易所合作？1日至2日在郑州举办的2019中国（郑州）国际期货论坛期间，多位与会嘉宾表示，应积极推进互联互通，不断提升跨境交易效率，促进期货市场国际化深度融合，服务好实体经济发展。
在政策支持、监管推动下，中国期货业对外开放不断提速，国际化期货品种阵营持续扩容。截至目前，我国已有原油、铁矿石、PTA期货和20号胶四个对外开放品种。其中，PTA期货作为全球唯一的一个聚酯类期货品种，自开启国际化征程以来，已有115个境外客户在我国开户交易，中国期货国际影响力正不断增强。
中国期货国际化程度不断提高
郑州商品交易所副总经理王亚梅认为，一方面，高质量期货市场的重要标志，就是期货价格广泛的代表性、更大范围的影响力。跨境交易就是让更多交易者参与到期货市场，提升价格发现的能力和水平，由此形成的价格能够更加充分地反映国际供求关系。另一方面，随着境内企业“走出去”开拓海外市场，境外企业“引进来”投资中国市场，积极推进跨境交易发展有利于满足全球企业不断增长的风险管理需求。
上海期货交易所副总经理陆丰表示，上期所对37个国家和地区的法律在资本市场对接方面做了深入研究，并将这些国家投资者参与中国期货市场的可行性分析通过多种渠道分享给全球市场投资者和监管机构，正在对第三批18个国家和地区做法律分析。从原油期货情况看，境外投资者持仓规模达到20%，并已完成12个合约交割，为境外期货投资者熟悉市场打下了良好的基础。
据大连商品交易所国际合作部总监陈安平介绍，目前，铁矿石期货的境内外价格相关性不断提升，套期保值效应逐步显现。今年铁矿石期现价格相关性为0.98，能够有效帮助实体企业实现规避风险的需求。同时，境外产业也开始参照大商所铁矿石、郑商所PTA期货的价格跟上下游的客户进行谈判，定价权开始向国内倾斜，中国期货品种价格正得到国际市场广泛认同。
“中国期货市场在过去30多年一直在积累经验，并且采取了最佳实践方法，为亚太地区以及主要西方期货市场发展奠定基础。对于国际的投资者或者国际的贸易商，现在是时候在中国投资了，也希望中国有更多开放的国际化产品。”芝加哥商品交易所董事总经理柯睿慈（Christopher Fix）认为，中国期货市场对外开放前景光明，更好推动跨境交易将是大势所趋。
对外开放要始终保持风险可控
当前，国内期货交易实行“一户一码”，有利于主管部门对市场的监管和风险的管控，看穿式监管和独立第三方保证金存管制度成效显著。有境外投资者表示习惯“先上车后买票”，合规成本支出较大，参与中国期货市场投资仍有一定限制。
中国期货业协会研究部主任王春卿认为，通过开放特定的期货品种，将有越来越多国际投资者进入中国市场，多方在互联互通过程当中将会找到融合点。
中国金融期货交易所国际合作部总监游航认为，在对外开放持续推进过程中，现有的规则正逐步完善以满足国际投资者交易的习惯，同时也要兼顾中国特色。在中国资本市场国际化合作积极推进的大环境背景下，要加强做好市场内部的风险管理工作。
“尽可能全方位了解金融产品和金融交易的过程，持续加强跨境交易的互联互融有利于个体管理风险。”国际期货业协会亚