China’s qualified foreign institutional investor scheme (QFII) and its renminbi equivalent (RQFII) allow foreign institutional investors to invest in onshore Chinese assets, within allocated quotas.
Three firms received RQFII licences for the first time: Acadian Asset Management, Lemanik Asset Management and Shenwan Hongyan Singapore Private, according to records from China’s State Administration for Foreign Exchange.
RQFII and QFII quotas given in September
| Firm |
Total quota |
New / additional |
Country |
| RQFII | |||
| Acadian Asset Management |
RMB 1.6bn ($240m) |
New |
US |
| Lemanik Asset Management |
RMB 1bn |
New |
Luxembourg |
| Shenwan Hongyan Singapore Private |
RMB 2bn |
New |
Singapore |
| QFII | |||
| China Industrial Securities International Asset Management |
$500m |
New |
Hong Kong |
Source: State Administration for Foreign Exchange
Acadian Asset Management is the second US firm that was granted RQFII quota. Earlier this year, Blackrock became the first, when its US operation received a quota of RMB 11bn in March. Together with its other entities in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK, Blackrock is the largest RQFII holder globally with quotas of RMB 50.1bn.
Boston-based Acadian AM manages different strategies, such as global equity, long-short, multi-asset and managed volatility, according to the firm’s website. The firm’s has institutional clients and it also has partnerships within sub-advisory channels, which enables the firm to offer services to high net worth investors.
The firm has offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and London.
Luxembourg-based Lemanik Asset Management, which also received an RQFII quota for the first time, is part of Lumanik Group, which operates in Switzerland and Luxembourg and has an asset management and wealth management business. It provides services to institutional and private investors in around 20 countries, according to the firm’s website.
Shenwan Hongyuan Singapore is part of Hong Kong-based Shenwan Hongyuan, which already has RMB3.9bn in RQFII quotas. The firm has businesses in securities and futures trading, asset management and corporate finance, according to the firm’s website. Its asset management business offers four funds to investors, all of which are China-focused.
On the QFII front, Hong Kong-based China Industrial Securities International Asset Management received licences for the first time, according to SAFE. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Industrial Securities International Financial Group, which is controlled by China-based Industrial Securities.
Since the programmes began, SAFE in total has awarded RMB 589.5bn ($88.7bn) in RQFII quotas to 191 licence holders and $94.49bn in QFII quotas to 287 licence holders, according to SAFE.
