China's HK share plan may start by July-adviser

China may start in June or July a long-delayed programme allowing mainland residents to buy directly into Hong Kong securities, the head of a Hong Kong securities firm said.

Christopher Cheung, chairman of Christfund Securities, said Beijing would begin studying how to implement the scheme once the National People's Congress had completed a government personnel reshuffle.

The annual meeting of the Congress, China's parliament, starts on Wednesday and will last for up to two weeks.

Cheung, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee, a body that advises the Congress, told Reuters that he and other advisers would recommend that Beijing allow residents to choose their own brokerages when investing.

Under Beijing's original proposal, unveiled on Aug. 20, investors would have been required to place orders with the Bank of China's branch in the northern port city of Tianjin, which would execute them through its securities arm in Hong Kong.

The planned "through train", championed by the foreign exchange regulator to reduce China's balance-of-payments surplus, ran into opposition from other parts of the government.

Premier Wen Jiabao put the scheme on hold Nov. 3 pending a review of regulatory issues and concerns about massive capital outflows.