The organisation has launched an index, paving the way for ETFs that could give investors rapid exposure to mainland China bank shares.

Investors seeking a relatively painless way of trading the shares of mainland China banks should soon have another entry point following the launch yesterday of an index by Hang Seng, the indices business in Asia.

Hang Seng Indices Company has launched the Hang Seng SCHK Mainland China Banks Index, designed to capture performance of banks listed in Hong Kong. The banks’ shares can be traded via the southbound trading link of the Hong Kong-mainland Stock Connect link

A maximum number of 20 constituents are eligible for this index, Hang Seng said. There are 13 at the time of writing.

The launch of the index paves the way for exchange traded funds, for example, that track such indices.