The head of Hong Kong’s stock market regulator said Wednesday that his agency had ticked all the boxes needed to start a highly anticipated project connecting the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, indicating delays were coming from its counterpart in mainland China.

香港股市监管机构的负责人周三表示，为了启动一个备受期待的连接香港和上海股市的项目，该机构已经完成了所需的全部准备工作，暗示项目启动的延迟是中国大陆的股市监管机构造成的。

“The tunnel has been built and the train needs to go through it, ” Ashley Alder¹, chief executive of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures² Commission, said at a Thomson Reuters regulatory conference in Hong Kong.

“隧道已经建成，只等列车通过，”在香港的汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)监管峰会上，香港证券及期货事务监察委员会(Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission)首席执行官欧达礼(Ashley Alder)说。

Mr. Alder was speaking for the first time since Monday, when the Stock Connect project was expected to begin but did not. His comments followed an announcement by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing on Sunday that the project had “no firm date for its implementation” and that it had not received “relevant regulatory approval, ” suggesting Shanghai as the source of the slowdown.

这是欧达礼周一以来的首次公开表态。“沪港通”项目原本预计于周一启动，但这一期待已经落空。在他发表评论之前，香港交易及结算所(Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing)周日宣布，该项目“没有确定的实施日期”，而且该机构也没有收到“相关的监管机构的批准”，这意味着上海方面是项目放缓的原因所在。

Bobby Yip/Reuters

周二，在港交所的交易大厅里，交易员在下午的交易中关注股价。

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is unaware⁴ of when a landmark⁵ trading scheme with the exchange in Hong Kong will launch, an exchange official said, adding that the two bourses had already “done their jobs” for the project to take off. Bo Que, executive vice⁶ president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, told Reuters on Wednesday that he did not know when the project would launch, adding that the two exchanges had “done their jobs.”

上海证券交易所的一名官员说，该机构并不清楚与港交所之间这个里程碑式的合作项目将于何时启动，并表示两个交易所已经为项目的启动“完成了本职工作”。上交所副总经理阙波周三告诉路透社，他不知道项目将于何时启动，又说两家交易所已为项目启动“完成了本职工作”。

Stock Connect has been closely watched by banks and brokerages in Hong Kong, and by hedge funds as far away as New York. It is considered to be one of the boldest moves by the Chinese government to liberalize its equity⁷ markets where, until now, foreign investors⁸ have been largely shut out.

“沪港通”项目一直受到香港的银行和经纪公司，甚至远在纽约的对冲基金的密切关注。它被认为是中国政府推动证券市场自由化的最大胆举措之一。迄今为止，境外投资者基本上被中国的证券市场拒之门外。

The project was announced by the Chinese premier⁹, Li Keqiang, in April, with a launch suggested to take place within six months. Since then, financial services companies have worked hard to prepare for the connection to become active, which was largely expected to happen at the end of October.

该项目由中国总理李克强于今年4月宣布，当时称会在半年内启动。自那时以来，金融服务企业一直在努力为实现对接做准备。外界基本都预期，“沪港通”会在10月底启动。

The program is part of a broader package of reform initiatives announced last year by President Xi Jinping. Some critics have complained that other reform programs, like free trade zones, have been slow to take off.

这个项目是中国国家主席习近平去年宣布的一系列改革措施中的一部分。一些批评人士抱怨称，自贸区等其他一些改革项目，启动进程缓慢。

On Wednesday, Mr. Alder said he hoped trading would begin in the “not too distant future, ” adding that it would benefit both Hong Kong and Shanghai’s financial centers, as well as foreign investors.

周三，欧达礼表示希望交易会在“不久的将来”开始，并补充说这对香港和上海这两个金融中心，以及外国投资者都有利。

“Our job is done, ” he added. The potential rewards of an open exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong are huge for investors, who can trade Chinese stocks only indirectly¹⁰ through a limited quota¹¹ program that allows just a drip of foreign money into the country.

“我们要做的已经做了，”他接着说。对投资者而言，开放大陆和香港之间的交易带来的潜在收益是巨大的。目前，投资者只能通过一个有限的配额计划，间接买卖中国股票。该配额计划只允许少量外国资金进入中国。

Speaking later Wednesday at the conference, Mark Steward¹², head of enforcement of the Securities and Futures Commission, touched on some of the broader concerns for regulators across Asia with cross-border investments.

周三晚些时候，香港证监会法规执行部的负责人施卫民(Mark Steward)在会上谈到了亚洲各地的监管机构，对于跨境投资存在的一些更广泛的担忧。

“We’re dealing¹³ with very significant legal differences, ” he said, adding that, in absence of a single, unified¹⁴ regulator, foreign investors would be expected to comply with local market rules.

施卫民说，“我们正在应对非常显著的法律差异。”他还表示，在缺乏一个统一的监管机构的情况下，希望外国投资者遵守当地的市场规则。