中国央行周四发布境外机构投资者境内证券期货投资资金管理规定称，将落实取消合格境外机构投资者和人民币合格境外机构投资者境内证券投资额度管理要求，对合格投资者跨境资金汇出入和兑换实行登记管理。规定自6月6日起实施。
央行网站新闻稿同时表示，将实施本外币一体化管理，允许合格投资者自主选择汇入资金币种和时机，此外央行将加强事中事后监管。完善合格投资者境内证券投资外汇风险及投资风险管理要求。
“合格投资者可自主选择汇入币种开展境内证券期货投资。”央行公告称。
公告并详细规定，合格投资者汇入外币进行投资的，可根据投资计划等，及时通知托管人直接将投资所需外币资金结汇并划入其与外币专用账户相对应的人民币专用存款账户。合格投资者汇入人民币进行投资的，可根据投资计划等，将投资所需的境外人民币资金直接汇入其人民币专用存款账户。
央行同时还取消了托管人数量限制，允许单家合格投资者委托多家境内托管人，并实施主报告人制度。央行并大幅简化合格投资者境内证券投资收益汇出手续，取消中国注册会计师出具的投资收益专项审计报告和税务备案表等材料要求，改以完税承诺函替代。
Beijing opens financial markets further amid tension with Washington
China finalised rules on Thursday that would scrap quotas under two major inbound investment schemes, giving qualified foreign institutions unlimited access to Chinese stocks and bonds in the latest step to open the country’s financial industry.
The revised rules come as tensions have flared up between Washington and Beijing in recent days over the origins of the coronavirus, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening more aggressive economic measures against China.
“It is poetry in motion for me to watch the Chinese move on approving the significantly revised regulations to registration-based market access at the very same moment Washington is looking to coax U.S. institutions to refrain from allocating capital into RMB asset classes,” said Peter Alexander, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy Z-Ben Advisors.
“For me, this is 4D chess going up against the Washington Beltway that can only operate in two combined modes - domestic and partisan,” he said.
Under the new rules, foreign investors no longer need to apply for any quotas under China’s two inbound investment channels - the dollar-dominated qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme and its yuan-denominated sibling, RQFII.
The rule changes are aimed at “further opening up China’s financial market,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a joint statement.
In addition, the regulations would simplify administrative requirements on the remittance and repatriation of funds as well as currency exchanges by foreign institutional investors, aiming to better facilitate foreign participation in China’s financial market, according to the statement.
China introduced the QFII scheme in 2002 and RQFII in 2011 as part of the country’s financial deregulation, but the channels have become increasingly overshadowed by more recent cross-border programs such as Stock Connect and Bond Connect, which are less restrictive.
Nearly 300 global institutions including UBS AG, Goldman Sachs & Co LLC and BNP Paribas had obtained QFII quotas worth a combined $114.66 billion at the end of April, according to SAFE, the foreign exchange regulator.
The new regulations, which take effect June 6, were published after regulators solicited public opinions. The rules involve regulatory details around how foreign money investing in Chinese securities and futures shall be regulated.
“This is exactly what the foreign investment community wanted: clarity,” said Alexander of Z-Ben Advisors.
China is stepping up opening its giant financial industry, having removed foreign ownership caps in futures, securities and mutual fund sectors earlier this year.
