China’s qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme and its renminbi equivalent (RQFII) allow foreign institutional investors to invest in onshore assets, within allocated quotas.
In total, SAFE gave around RMB 11.8bn ($1.76bn) in RQFII quotas in February, according to the regulator’s records.
Five firms received RQFII quotas from the regulator. These firms include Allianz Global investors in Singapore, which doubled its quota to RMB 2bn, and Bank J Safra Sarasin in Switzerland, which became a first-time recipient.
US-based FMR (Fidelity Management Research) also became a first-time RQFII recipient. However, its Singapore entity, Fidelity Investments (Singapore), already has RMB 460m in RQFII quotas.
RQFII quota recipients in February
|
New / additional quotas (RMB bn) |
Total quotas (RMB bn) |
|
| Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) |
3 (additional) |
5.95 |
| CCTIC International |
2.5 (new) |
2.5 |
| Allianz Global Investors Singapore |
1 (additional) |
2 |
| Bank J Safra Sarasin |
2.6 (new) |
2.6 |
| FMR |
2.7 (new) |
2.7 |
Source: SAFE
On the QFII front, Zhongtai International Asset Management received a quota for the first time ($100m).
Since the quota programmes began, SAFE has awarded a total of RMB 660.47bn in RQFII quotas to 209 licence holders, and $101.45bn in QFII quotas to 288 licence holders, according to SAFE.
In January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission proposed that the two quota schemes could be combined, which could help foreign managers with private fund management licences seed their own funds.
Part of the proposal is to expand the investment scope of the inbound schemes, which will include private investment funds, financial futures, commodity futures and options.
