China has issued $5.06bn worth of quotas to 34 firms under the qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) scheme last week, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
Launched in 2006, the QDII programme allows institutions and fund managers to invest offshore within allowable quotas.
The move confirms a recent report that SAFE was planning to issue up to $10bn worth of QDII quotas in the “near future”. It also comes after the regulator issued $3.36bn worth of quotas in September, the first since April 2019.
Of those that received the fresh quotas, seven of them were first time recipients, with six of them each receiving a quota amounting to $100m, according to SAFE records.
First-time recipients
| Firm | Quota ($m) |
| TruValue Asset Management | 100 |
| Great Wall Fund Management | 100 |
| Zhong Ou Asset Management | 100 |
| Ping An Securities | 100 |
| Aeon Life Insurance | 100 |
| CITIC-Prudential Life Insurance | 100 |
| Fubon Bank (China) | 10 |
| Total quotas granted | 610 |
Source: SAFE
Meanwhile, around 18 firms each received additional quotas of around $200m, and eight each received a quota of $100m (see below).
The 34 recipients included banks, securities firms, fund management firms and insurance companies. Around 55% of the recipients were fund managers.
In total, there are 164 QDII quota holders, with Ping An Insurance Group holding the largest quota of $7.19bn, followed by Sino Life Insurance ($4.41bn), China Asset Management ($3.85bn), Harvest Fund Management ($3.6bn) and China Life Insurance ($3.55bn).
Since the programme began, SAFE has granted $112bn of QDII quotas, according to SAFE data.
New QDII quota allocations were suspended for three years from 2015 when China’s stock market crash triggered massive capital outflows. They were resumed in April 2018 and 24 firms received fresh QDII quotas of $8.33bn.
Firms that received additional quotas in November
| Firm | Quota given in November ($m) | Total quota as of 08 Nov 2020 ($m) |
| Hua An Fund Management | 200 | 1,550 |
| China Southern Asset Management | 200 | 2,950 |
| China Asset Management | 200 | 3,850 |
| ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management | 200 | 500 |
| China International Capital | 200 | 2,400 |
| HFT Investment Management | 200 | 700 |
| China Universal Asset Management | 200 | 600 |
| GF Fund Management | 200 | 1,400 |
| Penghua Fund Management | 200 | 1,100 |
| UBS SDIC Fund Management | 200 | 2,000 |
| CCB Principal Asset Management | 200 | 300 |
| Everbright Pramerica Fund Management | 200 | 750 |
| Dacheng Fund Management | 200 | 550 |
| Huatai-Pine Bridge Fund Management | 200 | 580 |
| Tianhong Asset Management | 200 | 400 |
| PICC Property and Casualty | 200 | 1,000 |
| China Pacific Insurance (Group) | 200 | 237 |
| ICBC – AXA Life Insurance | 200 | 208 |
| The Bank of East Asia (China) | 100 | 300 |
| Standard Chartered Bank (China) | 100 | 2,100 |
| DBS Bank (China) | 100 | 985 |
| BNP Paribas China | 100 | 200 |
| United Overseas Bank China | 100 | 400 |
| Huatai Securities (Shanghai) Asset Management |
100 | 400 |
| China Securities | 100 | 360 |
| Qianhai Life Insurance | 100 | 600 |
| CITIC-Prudential Fund Management | 50 | 830 |
| Total quotas granted | 4,450 |
