Chinese School - Regulator to expand QDII quota

BIZCHINA / Center

Regulator to expand QDII quota

By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-05 16:12

China's foreign exchange authority will grant more overseas investment
quotas to qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII), China
Business News reported today, citing a senior forex official.

Li Dongrong, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign
Exchange, the country's forex watchdog, said yesterday in Hunan Province
that China has granted overseas investment quotas totaling US$20.5
billion to a total of 24 QDIIs so far.

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Specifically, 19 banks have been approved to buy foreign exchanges worth
US$14.8 billion on behalf of their clients for overseas investment, and
four insurers and one fund company have been granted quotas of US$5.2
billion and US$500 million respectively.

Li also said that the amendment to management measures on insurers'
foreign investment had been completed and the revised regulation will be
released soon.

Currently, banks, securities companies, funds and insurance companies are
allowed to invest in stocks and funds in overseas markets.

Morgan Stanley China strategist Jerry Lou said overseas investment was
less attractive for domestic investors due to a bullish stock market in
China and the still high expectation of the yuan appreciation.

Frank Gong, an economist of JPMorgan Securities, said nearly US$100
billion will be invested in overseas markets through a QDII scheme in a
few years.

"China's current account surplus is more than US$250 billion annually,
and the government must expand the outflow of foreign exchange if it
wants to relieve the appreciation pressure of the yuan," Gong said. "The
QDII is a good and effective channel to invest China's forex."

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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