Four State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) entities based in the UK, US and Ireland collectively received RQFII quotas of RMB 14.7bn ($2.14bn) for the first time in August, according China’s State Administration and Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
The mainland’s qualified foreign institutional investor scheme (QFII) and its renminbi equivalent (RQFII) allow foreign institutional investors to invest in onshore assets, within allocated quotas.
All four SSGA entities first became licence holders in May, according to records from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
This is not the first time that SSGA has invested in onshore markets via the inbound quota channels, SAFE records show. SSGA’s Hong Kong-based entity first received its RQFII quota in 2014, totalling RMB 1bn, plus it also has been a QFII quota holder since 2008, totalling $50m.
Although SSGA has been investing in China’s onshore markets for some time, it is notable as one of the top 50 global asset managers by AUM that it has not established either a joint venture or wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in China, according to a Z-Ben Advisors report.
Other first-time RQFII recipients are BOB Scotia International Asset Management in Hong Kong, and Foresee Global Asset Management (HK), each receiving RMB 500m in quotas.
Like SSGA, BOB Scotia’s Hong Kong-based entity has been investing onshore via its QFII quota of $200m, which it first received in 2017.
Foresee Global is the Hong Kong-based Chinese subsidiary of Shanghai-based Foresee Investment, which is a quantitative specialist fund manager that caters to domestic qualified investors in China, including institutional and high net worth individuals. It received its RQFII licence in August.
RQFII recipients in August
| Firm |
Country |
New / extra quotas |
Total quota |
| BOB Scotia International Asset Management |
Hong Kong |
New |
RMB 500m |
| Foresee Global Asset Management (HK) |
Hong Kong |
New |
RMB 500m |
| State Street Global Advisors |
UK |
New |
RMB 4.2bn |
| SSGA Funds Management |
US |
New |
RMB 4.4bn |
| State Street Global Advisors Trust |
US |
New |
RMB 5bn |
| State Street Global Advisors Irealand |
Ireland |
New |
RMB 1.1bn |
Source: SAFE
On the QFII front, Pinebridge Investments in Taiwan received a quota for the first time, while Overlook Investments in Hong Kong was granted additional quotas in August.
QFII recipients
| Firm |
Country |
New / extra quotas |
Total quota |
| Pinebridge Investments Management |
Taiwan |
New |
$100m |
| Overlook Investments |
Hong Kong |
$100m |
$200m |
Source: SAFE
Since the quota programmes began, SAFE has awarded a total of RMB 640.17bn in RQFII quotas to 203 licence holders and $100.16bn of QFII quotas to 286 licence holders, according to SAFE records.
Another quota scheme, China’s qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) programme, is a channel for onshore investors to invest offshore. No QDII quotas were issued in the past two months. In total, the regulator has awarded $103.2bn in QDII quotas to 152 holders.
