IRELAND: China announces allocation of Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) Quota to Ireland

Wednesday December 21 2016

The People’s Bank of China (PBC) has announced a quota for Ireland of 50 billion yuan (approximately €7bn at current exchange rates) under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) scheme. This follows an Irish Government decision to engage with Chinese Authorities regarding the provision of such a quota. This is the latest addition to the existing Hong-Kong-Shanghai Stock Connect which Irish funds were granted access to in 2015.

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.

Grainne McEvoy, Acting Director of Securities and Markets Supervision, said that “Investment Managers in a jurisdiction which has been granted an RQFII quota can apply to Chinese authorities for approval to invest directly in Chinese securities. This initiative will increase the range of options available to Irish domiciled Investment Managers and no doubt contribute to the furthering of supervisory cooperation between the Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China.”

Ireland’s position as the third largest global funds centre and as the European location of choice for ETFs is expected to be bolstered by the announcement in advance of possible index inclusions for Chinese shares.

This announcement recognises Ireland’s position as a leading cross-border funds centre and comes very quickly after confirmation that the Central Bank of Ireland is in a position to accept applications from Irish domiciled UCITS and AIFs to invest through the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect (“Shenzhen Connect”) programme.

For the announcement, please click the link at the top of the page.