China approves two more QFIIs
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-21 16:17

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has formally approved applications from France's Banque de I'Indochine et de Suez and Power Corp of Canada for qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) licenses.

To date, a total of 27 foreign banks or financial institutions have been granted QFII status.

Power Corp. is a well-known investment management and holding company in North America, engaging mainly in financial asset management and life insurance operations. Its Asia subsidiary Power Pacific Ltd is engaged in investment service in China.

Power is also the fourth foreign asset management company to get QFII qualification in China. The previous three are Nikko Asset Management, Templeton Asset Management and Invesco Asset Management.

Headquartered in Paris, Banque Indosuez is the largest commercial bank in France. Its main businesses cover syndicate loans, debt issues, call loans, export credits and foreign exchange trading.

Under the QFII program, the French commercial bank and the Canadian diversified management and holding company will be allowed to invest in the yuan-denominated bond and A-share markets in the Chinese mainland.

The two new QFIIs are yet to get the approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange for investment quota.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has so far approved investment quotas totaling US$2.85 billion applied by 19 QFIIs.

Since September, the authorities have increased the pace to approve QFIIs and their investment quotas.

Approved QFIIs include HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.

An informed source said on September 23 that China is likely to expand the scale of experiment in the qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) system, or even put an end to the experiment within a short period for implementation on a full scale.

The source said the related departments are summarizing the experiences of the experiment in the previous period, and will submit a report on this to the State Council.

If this report is adopted by the State Council, the QFII experiment starting from May last year may come to an end and enter a new period of population, the source said.

A special team has been set up to take charge of the work for improving the QFII experiment, whose task includes revision of the Interim Rules for Administration of Securities Investment in the Territory of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China and effective on December 1, 2002.

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