China grants Ireland $50 billion RQFII quota

China has granted Irish investors a quota of $50 billion yuan to invest in Chinese capital markets through RQFII.
By Paul Walsh
The People’s Bank of China has granted an investment quota for Ireland of 50 billion yuan under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) scheme.

The move follows an Irish Government decision to engage with Chinese authorities regarding the provision of such a quota.

This allocation will enable Irish-domiciled investment managers to apply to invest directly in Chinese securities.
Such an application is made directly with the relevant Chinese authorities.

Where a jurisdiction has an RQFII quota, investment managers in that jurisdiction can apply to be granted a certain portion of that quota.

Initially launched in 2011, RQFII allows qualified foreign institutional investors to invest up to $38 billion in equities and bonds by remitting funds in RMB.

The aim of RQFII is to improve access to RMB held outside China to invest in onshore securities.

“The decision by Chinese authorities to allocate an RQFII quota to Ireland will serve to further support the economic and financial linkages between Ireland and China,” said Phillip Lane, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

“Initiatives such as this further global economic integration and may therefore result in potential macroeconomic gains for the jurisdictions concerned.”

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