Technical preparation will be finished in the middle of September for a pilot program allowing cross-border stock investment by investors in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday.

Tests on the whole network will be made at the end of August and in mid-September.

By July 18, 90 securities firms on the Chinese mainland and 215 in Hong Kong had applied for taking part in the pilot program, according to the commission.

The pilot program, which was announced in April, would be carried out in six months, CSRC said earlier. It would be subject to an initial total ceiling of 550 billion yuan ($90 billion) — 300 billion yuan for Hong Kong investors and 250 billion yuan for Chinese mainland investors.