The combined investment quotas of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) broke the US$8 billion mark after the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Monday it had granted Credit Suisse a US$200 million quota.

 

"With more and more state-owned banks and enterprises embracing the stock market and the recovery of Chinese capital markets, foreign investment will continue to flow into China," said a SAFE official.

 

According to the latest SAFE statistics, QFIIs invested a total of US$2.1 billion in China's stock market in the first half of the year.

 

In the same period, the market saw an inflow of US$15.6 billion in overseas investment, up 108 percent year on year.

 

Sixteen overseas investors obtained QFII status between January and September, seven more than for the same period last year.

 

Forty of the 50 foreign institutions that have QFII status have been awarded a combined investment quota of US$8.05 billion. The US$10 billion mark will no doubt be reached in the near future.

 

To facilitate the entry of more QFIIs, the authorities issued new rules in August, lowering the QFII qualification threshold.

 

For example, the securities assets requirement for potential QFIIs was reduced from 10 billion dollars to five billion dollars.

 

China launched the QFII program in 2003, allowing foreign institutional investors such as UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup Global Markets Limited to engage in the securities business on the Chinese mainland.

 

Statistics show that QFIIs earned more than US$2.5 billion in China over the past three years.

 

QDIIs, or qualified domestic institutional investors, were launched in 2006 as a counterpart to QFIIs.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2006)