QFII granted to private bank for first time

首家外资私人银行QFII昨日获批

Swiss-based private banking group Julius Baer announced it had been granted a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quota of US$100-million by China's foreign exchange regulator.

Julius Baer was granted the QFII license last December and is the first and only private bank to acquire one. The license clears the way for the bank to buy Chinese stocks and bonds under the QFII scheme.

Julius Baer said it plans to launch a China Fund, which will invest in A and H shares.

"Until now, clients have had very limited direct access to this trend, since few China stocks have overseas listings. We can now offer clients a full range of products either directly from Julius Baer or from numerous external parties," said Kenneth Ho, head of Products Asia Pacific.

Julius Baer has stepped up efforts to expand its presence in China. The Swiss bank is expected to open representative offices in Shanghai and a trust company in Singapore within the year, pending government approvals. In March 2011, the bank expanded its RMB product offerings, adding RMB conversion services, savings and fixed deposit accounts, RMB-denominated unit trusts, currency linked investments and bonds.

China launched the QFII scheme in 2003 and has granted a total of US$20 billion in quotas to over 100 foreign institutions including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

昨日，私人银行集团瑞士宝盛银行宣布，经中国国家外汇管理局审批，获得1亿美元合格境外机构投资者（QFII）投资额度。

瑞士宝盛于2010年12月获得国家外汇管理局颁发的QFII牌照，至今仍是唯一一家拥有该牌照的私人银行，其客户可参与中国内地股票和债券市场。

该行计划推出中国基金，投资于A股和H股市场。

“到目前为止，客户直投中国市场的渠道还非常有限，因为国外上市的中国企业还是比较少。现在我们可以为客户提供全面的产品和服务，有些是我们自有产品，也有很多是与第三方合作的产品。”瑞士宝盛亚太区产品主管Kenneth Ho在公告中说到。

瑞士宝盛加大在中国市场扩张力度，计划于今年内在上海设立代表办事处以及成立新加坡信托公司，上述计划均有待监管机构的批准。2011年3月，瑞士宝盛银行扩大了人民币产品系列，增加了在香港及新加坡的人民币兑换服务、储蓄和定期存款账户、人民币计价的单位信托基金，以及货币挂钩投资和债券等。

2003年，中国引入QFII制度，至今共批准包括高盛、花旗银行和摩根士丹利等百余家外国机构投资额度200亿美元左右。