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The mainland is soon to announce the second batch of qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) banks, which will be allowed to channel huge domestic capital to overseas markets, said a top regulator.
"Definitely, there will be a lot (of new banks to be approved), so long as you are ready," Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), told bankers in Hong Kong yesterday.
His comments came after the banking watchdog approved on Friday the first batch of four mainland banks and two overseas banks to invest funds belonging to domestic clients in fixed-income products offshore.
They included the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank, as well as the mainland units of HSBC and Bank of East Asia.
The CBRC said it was assessing applications from other commercial banks, such as China Everbright Bank, China CITIC Bank and some other overseas banks.
Liu said the CBRC will use a single standard to evaluate applications to take part in the QDII scheme from either mainland or overseas banks.
More than 10 overseas banks, including Dutch lender ABN Amro and Italy's Banca Lombarda, have applied, a market source said, because "they want to tap the mainland's US$1.8 trillion personal savings and to establish good relations with domestic clients before the mainland's banking sector opens wider by the end of the year."