(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-30 08:33

China Southern Fund Management Co., one of the country’s three largest fund companies, said it had won approval from regulators to invest clients’ money in foreign financial markets.

The company is now preparing to launch its first overseas investment fund while submitting a proposal for its maximum size to foreign exchange regulators, domestic newspapers reported Saturday.

“We hope the size of China Southern’s first Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) fund will be relatively large, ideally above US$1 billion,” the Shanghai Securities News quoted general manager Gao Liangyu as saying.

The announcement is expected to be the first in a series of approvals for mainland fund management firms and brokerages to invest overseas, after authorities revised rules in June to let them join the QDII program.

Previously, only banks and insurance companies, with the exception of Huaan Fund Management Co., had been permitted join the program, which was launched last year.

Regulations limit the markets QDII investors can enter in the initial stages. Deputy general manager Xu Xiaosong was quoted as saying China Southern’s new fund would focus on Hong Kong-listed stocks and funds traded on foreign exchanges.

China Asset Management Co. is close to obtaining approval to launch a QDII fund, while several major brokerages have applied, industry sources say.