Huatai Securities Becomes First Brokerage Sales Institution for Hainan Free Trade Port Cross-Border Asset Management Pilot

Huatai Securities Co., Ltd.'s Haikou Guoxing Avenue Securities Business Department has recently completed the filing to participate in the Hainan Free Trade Port Cross-Border Asset Management Pilot, officially becoming a sales institution for the program.

Since the pilot was launched in October 2025, sales institutions have primarily consisted of banking institutions. Huatai Securities' entry marks an expansion of the pilot's sales service scope from bank-led institutions to include securities firms.

Regulatory Framework and Scope

The Implementation Rules for the Hainan Free Trade Port Cross-Border Asset Management Pilot Business came into effect on August 21, 2025. Under these rules:

• Overseas investors may purchase financial products issued by institutions within the Hainan Free Trade Port through pilot sales institutions
• Eligible products include wealth management products, private asset management products from securities and futures firms, publicly offered securities investment funds, and insurance asset management products
• Fund flows across borders are facilitated through the Free Trade Account (FTA) system

As an innovative arrangement following policies such as QFII/RQFII, the Shanghai-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and the Cross-Boundary Wealth Management Connect, the Hainan Free Trade Port Cross-Border Asset Management Pilot provides overseas investors with a new channel for allocating onshore assets.

Huatai Securities' Strategic Positioning

A representative from Huatai Securities stated that completing the pilot filing and becoming a sales institution reflects the company's proactive response to Hainan's high-level financial opening-up and its strategic move to seize cross-border financial innovation opportunities in the new phase of customs closure operations.

Going forward, the company will:

• Continuously improve its internal control system for sales operations, covering investor suitability management, product introduction and sales, risk prevention, and investor protection
• Steadily advance the pilot business in compliance with regulatory requirements

The Haikou Guoxing Avenue Securities Business Department, as a securities branch with deep roots in the Hainan market, possesses a broad local client base and strong market reputation, maintaining efficient business coordination with various business lines of the group. Leveraging the group's comprehensive financial service capabilities and cross-border business resources, the department will provide overseas investors with cross-border asset management services, including suitability management, product sales, settlement and clearing, and advisory support.

Industry Perspective

Industry insiders believe that securities companies participating in the cross-border asset management pilot as sales institutions can fully leverage their resource advantages and form efficient business synergies with existing issuing institutions.

As sales institutions expand from banks to securities firms and other financial entities, overseas investors will gain more diversified channels for allocating onshore renminbi assets. This is expected to:

• Further unlock the policy dividends of the Hainan Free Trade Port cross-border asset management pilot
• Promote the steady development of Hainan's cross-border asset management market
• Help position Hainan as a new window connecting onshore and offshore capital markets

About Huatai Securities

Huatai Securities is a Chinese financial enterprise listed in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and London. The company has been deepening its internationalization strategy and has established a global value chain system with coordinated development across Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It is also actively expanding into mature markets such as Japan, as well as emerging markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The company is building an integrated comprehensive financial service system with cross-market, multi-product, and full-cycle capabilities. Following its filing for the Hainan Free Trade Port cross-border asset management pilot, Huatai Securities will continue to leverage its multi-license, integrated, and full-business-chain system advantages. Drawing on its professional expertise in asset strategy and fund research, as well as its fintech-driven digital capabilities, the company will deepen coordination with issuing institutions and pilot banks, steadily promote the allocation of onshore asset management products by overseas investors, and contribute to the expansion and effectiveness of the pilot program. This effort supports the high-level opening-up of onshore capital markets, the internationalization of the renminbi, and the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.