SECURITIES regulators are considering speeding up Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor approvals and facilitating the operation of the QFII program to attract more long-term overseas investment.

Authorities have hastened QFII approvals and lowered the QFII threshold since the beginning of this year to support the development of the domestic capital market, an official from the China Securities Regulatory Commission said yesterday.

The official said China will also expand further the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, raise the RQFII investment quota and loosen curbs to allow more institutions to apply for exchange-traded fund products.

Started in December 2011, the RQFII program now allows 70 billion yuan (US$11 billion) in ETFs raised offshore to be invested in the domestic capital market.

The QFII program allows overseas brokerages, fund houses and trust firms to invest in the domestic capital markets.

China granted QFII licenses to 57 new foreign investors this year, bringing the total to 192 since the program started in 2002. Eighty percent of the 192 QFIIs are long-term investors, including asset management companies, insurers and pension funds, according to official data.

China has moved to attract more long-term funds. In April, the CSRC raised the investment ceiling for QFIIs to US$80 billion from US$30 billion.

In July, China eased its investment controls on QFIIs, allowing them to enter the interbank bond market.

Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/Business/2012/11/08/Further%2Beasing%2Bin%2BQFII%2Bto%2Battract%2Binvestment/