HKMA QFII quota exceeds US$1 billion

Becomes first foreign institutional investor granted this sum.

China recently awarded an additional US$500 million to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority as part of its the qualified foreign institutional investor program (QFII), bringing HKMA’s total quota to US$1.5 billion.

This was preceded by an initial quota of US$300 million in March 2011 and a second quota of US$700 million in July 2012. The most recent award on Aug. 28 made HKMA the first foreign institutional investor to get more than US$1 billion in quota capacity.

Analysts said the move suggests China's regulators are increasingly focusing the QFII program launched more than a decade ago on assets owners as opposed to \ money managers and investment banks that took the bulk of quotas awarded in the early years of the program.