Jan. 19, 2007 (China Knowledge) – China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) announced yesterday that GE Asset Management and UBS Global Asset Management (Singapore) have been granted investment quotas of US$200 million and US$200 million respectively, and that Fortis Bank received an additional investment quota of US$100 million on Jan. 11.

The current approved QFII quota has reached US$9.55 billion, and of the US$10 billion of the total quota, only US$455 million remain.

GE Asset Management received its QFII status last August while UBS Global Asset Management (Singapore) was approved as a QFII investor last September. Fortis Bank received approved for its QFII status on October 2004, and it has so far been granted a quota of US$500 million.

 

In addition to receiving QFIIs quota, GE Asset Management and UBS Global Asset Management (Singapore) are each allowed to open a special RMB account and a foreign currency account.

China has so far granted QFII status to 52 companies, of which 46 institutions had been granted quotas; the remaining six QFIIs have to share the US$455 million quota.

Last year, the supervision departments lowered the threshold for applying for QFII status.  Along with the increasing attraction of China’s capital market, the number of QFII applicants are on the rise.  Also, with more QFIIs applying for additional investment quotas, it is likely that the total QFII quota would be increased.

In addition, SAFE granted the domestic branch of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd a quota of US$50 million to purchase foreign currency for its overseas wealth management business on behalf of clients. Currently, the investment quota of 16 bank QDIIs has increased to US$13.4 billion.