Since the beginning of this year, the Panda Bond market has continued to gather momentum, underscoring the vitality of China's high-standard opening-up of its bond market. In the first half of 2026, Panda Bond issuance in China reached RMB 160 billion, up 69% year-on-year and equivalent to 90% of the full-year issuance for 2025. Upon market needs, Shanghai Clearing House (SHCH), taking advantage of its role as a financial market infrastructure and its professional capabilities, publishes the Guidelines for Panda Bond Registration and Custody (English Version) (the Guidelines), with a focus on the practical needs of overseas issuers and global investors. Addressing key concerns of overseas issuers and common business issues, the Guidelines systematically outline the key procedures for registration and custody. Comprehensive information, standardized descriptions and clearly defined operational steps are compiled in a single English-language guide, offering overseas issuers accessible, practical and step-by-step guidance, and will further reduce the language costs associated with market entry, bridging the "last mile" for overseas issuers to China's bond market, and inject new momentum into the high-standard opening-up of the bond market.
Panda Bonds are RMB-denominated bonds issued in China by overseas institutions. Issuers span a broad range of entities, including international development institutions, foreign government agencies, overseas financial institutions and overseas non-financial enterprises. Panda Bonds is an important channel of RMB investment and financing for overseas entities, promotes the use of the RMB in cross-border financing and transactions, and serves as an important financial instrument supporting the internationalization of the RMB. As the main CSD for Panda Bonds, SHCH provides end-to-end services covering issuance registration, interest payment and redemption, and clearing and settlement. Through its professional and efficient financial infrastructure services, SHCH has provided strong support for the development of the Panda Bond market. In the first half of 2026, the amount of Panda Bonds registered at SHCH reached RMB 159.7 billion, representing nearly 100% of the market. As of the end of June 2026, the outstanding amount of Panda Bonds held in custody at SHCH stood at RMB 454.7 billion, accounting for more than 90% of the market. While enhancing service accessibility, SHCH has also actively implemented national policies of tax and fee reductions. For six consecutive years, it has fully waived issuance registration fees for Panda Bonds and reduced interest payment and redemption service fees by 50%. Since October 2025, SHCH has additionally waived, on a temporary basis, all interest payment and redemption service fees for Panda Bonds issued by financial institutions. SHCH's fee concession scale for Panda Bonds ranks first in the market.
Going forward, SHCH will remain focused on the high-quality development of the Panda Bond market, including strengthening system development, advanceing business innovation, improving service quality and efficiency, further broadening and deepening the market, and exploring additional fee-reduction measures. By providing financial infrastructure services that are more professional, accessible, efficient and responsive, SHCH will make a greater contribution to the high-standard, two-way opening-up of China's bond market.
