China eyes wider opening up with QDII reform

BEIJING, Apr 15 (Xinhua): China is taking another step in opening up the financial market with reform of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement Wednesday that it would work with other government entities to push QDII reform and improve the macro-prudential management of the programme.

SAFE will release QDII quotas monthly on its website, it said in the statement.

The scheme allows qualified domestic investors to invest overseas and encourages two-way capital flows, according to Xie Yaxuan, an analyst with China Merchants Securities.

"Opening-up should come both ways. It does not only encourage inflows but also outflows," Xie said.

China has yet to fully liberalize its capital account, with programmes such as QDII and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) providing financial institutions with quotas in outbound and inbound investments, respectively.