China pledges to expand QFII, RQFII programs

Securities regulators are considering speeding up Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) approvals and facilitating the operation of the QFII program to attract more long-term overseas investment.

Authorities have hastened QFII approvals and lowered the QFII threshold since the beginning of the year to support the development of the domestic capital market, an official from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Wednesday.

The QFII program allows overseas brokerage companies, fund houses and trust firms to invest in Chinese capital markets.

China granted QFII licenses to 57 new foreign investors this year. A total of 192 foreign firms have been approved since the program started in 2002.

Eighty percent of the 192 QFIIs are long-term investors, including asset management companies, insurers and pension funds, according to official data.

China has taken steps to attract more long-term funds. In April, the CSRC raised the investment ceiling for QFIIs to 80 billion U.S. dollars from 30 billion U.S. dollars.

In July, China eased its investment controls on QFIIs, allowing them to enter the interbank bond market.

The CSRC official said the country will also further expand the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, raise the RQFII investment quota and loosen restrictions to allow more institutions to apply for exchange-traded-fund (ETF) products.

China launched the RQFII program in December 2011 to allow a maximum of 20 billion yuan in ETFs raised offshore to be invested in the domestic capital market. The investment quota was later increased by 50 billion yuan.