(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-23 17:10

China International Capital Corp (CICC) said yesterday it was approved by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to become the first securities broker QDII, the Shanghai Securities News reported.

Other securities houses including Everbright, China Merchants and CITIC have queued up for the qualification, according to sources.

Qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) need a certain level of assets and scale in order to qualify. Other factors such as past management performance, the number of overseas branches and experience of investing overseas are also taken into account during the selection process.

Before becoming a QDII investor, CICC invested Chinese pension funds overseas with other foreign institutions. It also manages some foreign exchange businesses.

The investment scope of the QDII scheme and the tools it offers have aroused expectations among investors. The QDII program will give Chinese people more options as they develop their portfolios, the newspaper said.